Abstract
Purpose
To investigate the prevalence of negative behaviour in preschool children attending dental clinics and its association with sociodemographic, oral health-related and parental psychosocial factors.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was carried out with 145 parents/guardians and their children aged 4–6 years attending paediatric dentistry training programmes in a capital city of Midwest Brazil. Data were obtained from children’s dental records, interviews, and questionnaires for parents/guardians. The outcome was negative child behaviour, based on the dentists’ use or indication of behavioural control measures during the dental appointments, as registered in the children's dental records. Covariates were sociodemographic, clinical and parent/guardian psychosocial factors religiosity (DUREL index) and Sense of Coherence (SOC-13 scale). Bivariate analyses and Poisson regression with robust variance were performed.
Results
The prevalence of negative behaviour was 24.1% (95% CI = 17.9–31.7). In the bivariate analyses, the variables initially selected for the regression models (p < 0.25) were the parent/guardians’ number of children and religiosity, and the children’s dental pain and caries status in deciduous teeth. After adjustment, the prevalence of negative behaviour was 2.12 higher in children with teeth extracted due to caries.
Conclusion
The prevalence of negative behaviour was high and associated with the presence of missing teeth due to caries, regardless of sociodemographic, psychosocial, and other oral health factors.
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Data availability
The data that support the findings of this study are not openly available due to reasons of sensitivity and are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
The study was funded by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), Finance code 001; the State of Goias Research Foundation (FAPEG), Grant 201710267000525; and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), research productivity scholarship.
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JBSF contributed to the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and writing of the paper. DCAR contributed to the collection and interpretation of the data. LRC contributed to the study design and data interpretation. MCMF contributed to the study design, data analysis, interpretation and writing of the paper. All authors have read and approved the final manuscript for submission.
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Ferreira, J.B.S., Rigo, D.C.A., Costa, L.R. et al. Prevalence of negative behaviour in the dental setting and association with sociodemographic, oral health-related and psychosocial factors amongst Brazilian preschool children. Eur Arch Paediatr Dent 24, 481–489 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-023-00815-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40368-023-00815-0