Abstract
Purpose
The purposes were to evaluate if gagging can affect children’s cooperation with treatment, investigate possible changes in gagging and study factors that can predict children's behaviour over dental treatment.
Methods
255 children aged 4–12 years, needing at least three consecutive dental appointments, completed the Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale before examination. The Gagging Problem Assessment was performed before the initial examination and after the third/final appointment. Frankl’s Behaviour Rating Scale (FBRS) was used to rate children’s behaviour. Multivariate Mixed Linear and Logistic Regression Models were used.
Results
Children with definitely positive behaviour were significantly older, less fearful and less likely to gag before treatment. Girls and older children had lower odds of gagging over time, while fearful children had higher odds. There were no statistically significant associations between gagging over time, FBRS and the type of dental treatment at the third appointment. The percentage of children who gagged after the third appointment (27.05%) was significantly lower as compared to the percentage found at the initial appointment (32.54%; p = 0.004).
Conclusion
Among the variables studied, age, dental fear, initial GPA and type of treatment were good predictors of children's behaviour during dental treatment.
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Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank all of the children and their families who participated in this research.
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MK and KA conceived and planned the original idea. MK developed the theory, gathered the material, entered the data, analyzed the data with the help of TC, who verified the statistics methods. MK took the lead in writing the manuscript with the help and the support of TC and KA. NK, GS and KA encouraged MK to investigate gagging and cooperation in children and developed the theoretical formalism. KA supervised the findings of this work. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript.
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Katsouda, M., Coolidge, T., Simos, G. et al. Gagging and cooperation in 4–12-year-old children over a series of dental appointments. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 22, 937–946 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-021-00654-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-021-00654-x