Attitudes of a sample of Saudi parents towards behavior

management in a pediatric dental clinic

Gifty Benson Owusu, BSc, DDS, MSc, Mariam Al Amri, BDS, MSc,
Kesnel Dufresne, DDS, CertPed, Penny Moore, DDS, MSc,
Barry L. Stewart, BDS, LDS, MDSc, FRACDS,
Wael Sabbah, BDS, DDPH, MSc
Department of Dental Services North West Armed Forces Hospital P.O. Box 100, Tabuk, KSA

There are many behavior management techniques used in pediatric dentistry from tell-show-do, voice control, physical restraint, to oral sedation and general anesthesia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the attitudes of Saudi parents toward behavior management techniques used when treating 4-9 year old children in a pediatric dental clinic in the Northwest Armed Forces Hospitals. A total of 344 children were selected to participate in the study. Four consultant pediatric dentists were trained in a calibration program, to ensure a uniform approach with behavior management techniques. The patients were examined, and treated starting with ‘tell-show-do', followed by techniques requiring increasing frmness when necessary. Parents completed a questionnaire on relevant socio-economic and behavioral factors. Most parents (49.3%) preferred ‘tell-show-do', some (8.5%) voice control, while only (3.8%), permitted the dentist to use physical restraint. A total of 33.2% preferred general anesthesia rather than restraint, and 13.4% left the decision to the dentist. Parents who would not tolerate any form of restraint to be use on their children under any circumstances constituted 3.3%. These results indicated that most parents preferred the more passive techniques to physical restraint, and participating dentists showed strong sensitivity to parental preferences by utilizing mainly tell-show-do and voice control.

Saudi Dental Journal 2005;17(1):3-9.