Resumo

RIVERA ZELAYA, Ivette Carolina  e  FERNANDEZ PARRA, Antonio. Anxiety and dental fears among Honduran school children. Rev. Latinoam. Psicol. [online]. 2005, vol.37, n.3, pp. 461-475. ISSN 0120-0534.

Anxiety towards dental attention and treatment can affect significantly children’s oral health as well as the quality of dental treatment received. Despite its importance scarce research about childhood dental anxiety has been done in Latin America, specifically in Honduras. In this study dental anxiety was assed in a random sample of 170 school children (6-11 years) from Tegucigalpa’s metropolitan region. Corah Dental Anxiety Scale, Venham Picture Test and Children Fear Survey were used for the assessment. School children showed moderate dental anxiety levels, and only between 14 -15 percent showed significant clinical anxiety levels. No significant differences were found related to dental anxiety between girls and boys. Highly invasive dental procedures account for higher anxiety levels as well as the expectation of visiting the dentist the next day. Children with previous dental experience showed higher anxiety levels as well as children of parents that report fear towards dental treatment. Results demonstrate the relevance of children’s dental anxiety and its relationship with certain previous experience.

Palavras-chave : Children, Dental anxiety; Dental fear; Corah dental anxiety scale; Venham picture test; Children fear survey schedule.

        · resumo em Espanhol     · texto em Espanhol     · Espanhol ( pdf )