Psychosocial issues cause child dental fear

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Experts have suggested that children or adolescents with acute dental fear often have psychological issues.

The researchers from University of Gothenburg’s Sahlgrenska Academy, Sweden, claimed that fear of dentistry is often found in children that have turbulent family backgrounds.

Child dentistry specialist Annika Gustafsson said that young suffers with dental fear often came from families of a lower social class and or a lower than average income.

She found that these children often came from single-parent families, participated in fewer leisure activities and had more psychosocial problems.

More than 250 kids and teens and their parents completed questionnaires about their family background and their day-to-day lives.

The research also discovered that the dental-fearing youngsters’ parents were also more likely form acute dental fear, anxiety and worry.

Gustafsson said that dentistry-fearing parents would have a negative affect on their children because they are setting a poor example about not wanting to go to the dentist.

She claimed that more work needs to be done to discover which children fear dentistry from an early age so they can be offered help and support.

Dental fear can also be caused by frightening experiences during childhood.

Known cures for dental fear include anxiety medication, anaesthesia, nitrous oxide, and hypnosis.

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