Dental fear and caries in 6-12 year old children in Greece: Determination of dental fear cut-off points

Aim To present: the normative data on dental fear and caries status; the dental fear cut-off points of young children in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. Methods Study Design: This is a cross-sectional study with two independent study groups. A first representative sample consisted of 1484 children from 15 primary public schools of Thessaloniki. A second sample consisted of 195 randomly selected age-matched children, all patients of the Postgraduate Paediatric Dental Clinic of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. First sample: In order to select data on dental fear and caries, dental examination took place in the classroom with disposable mirrors and a penlight. All the children completed the Dental Subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS). Second sample: In order to define the cut-off points of the CFSS-DS, dental treatment of the 195 children was performed at the University Clinic. Children's dental fear was assessed using the CFSS-DS and their behaviour during dental treatment was observed by one calibrated examiner using the Venham scale. Statistics: Statistical analysis of the data was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics 20 at a statistical significance level of p < 0.05. Results First sample: The mean CFSS-DS score was 27.1±10.8. Age was significantly (p < 0.05) related to dental fear. Mean differences between boys and girls were not significant. Caries was not correlated with dental fear. Second sample: CFSS-DS < 33 was defined as 'no dental fear', scores 33-37 as 'borderline' and scores > 37 as 'dental fear'. In the first sample, 84.6% of the children did not suffer from dental fear (CFSS-DS < 33). Conclusion Dental fear was correlated to age and not to caries and gender. The dental fear cut-off point for the CFSS-DS was estimated at 37 for 6-12 year old children (33-37 borderlines).