Dental anxiety patterns in adolescents born preterm compared with matched controls

• Introduction A high frequency of cognitive and behavioural disturbances has been reported in preterm children. It is not known if this affects the children’s apperceptions or behaviours during dental treatment. The aim was therefore to investigate dental behavioural management problems (BMP) and dental anxiety (DA) in preterm children from age 3-14, and to compare with matched controls. Materials and Methods 187 preterm children (23-32 weeks of gestation), born 1994-96 were followed regarding BMP and DA. Comparisons were made with matched full-term controls. Data on BMP were collected from dental records for the ages 3 and 6 yrs. During the school years, parents were interviewed twice regarding BMP in their children. Two periods of time were covered; preschool period, and early school years. Finally, at 12-14 yrs the children filled out the CFSS-DS scale, measuring DA. Results During pre-school years pre-term children showed significantly more BMP at various kinds of dental treatments (32% vs. 15%; p<0.001). This was confirmed in the first interviews of the parents (20%vs. 10%; p=0.028). At the second interviews, covering early school years, no differences were found between the groups. This was also verified by the children’s scorings on CFSS-DS at age 12-14 where no differences in mean scores were revealed. Conclusion Children born preterm seem to have a high prevalence of BMP during preschool years. But this difference decreases with increasing age, possibly reflecting a catch-up. At school years and early adolescence no differences were seen between the groups regarding BMP or DA.

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MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Odontologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Dentistry (hsv//eng)

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