Dental Students’ Perception Towards Behavior Guidance Techniques in Pediatric Dentistry

Background and Aim: Management of children’s behavior is fundamental to a successful and effective dental treatment for children. This study aimed to evaluate the perceptions of dental students towards behavior guidance techniques in pediatric dentistry. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out on dental students from three different levels of education. A questionnaire containing demographics, perceived acceptability of behavior guidance techniques (17 statements), and clinical situations (8 statements) was completed by the first-year, third-year, and last-year dental students. The questions were scored using a 5-point Likert scale. Descriptive statistics, the linear regression model, and the Chi-square test were used for statistical analysis. Results: Totally, 264 dental students participated in this study. The most acceptable behavior guidance technique and clinical situation were positive reinforcement, and parent present during treatment, respectively. The least acceptable technique and clinical situation were passive immobilization, and showing the needle to the child, respectively. There were significant changes in acceptability scores of some behavior guidance techniques including voice control (P=0.00), hand over mouth (HOM) (P=0.00), using nitrous oxide (P=0.00), positive verbal reinforcement (P=0.00), active protective immobilization (P=0.00), passive protective immobilization (P=0.00), providing exact explanation (P=0.00), and general anesthesia (0.02) by increasing the level of education of students. Conclusion: Non-aversive behavior guidance techniques had the most acceptable scores and some aversive techniques like immobilization, disallowing child speaking during treatment, and HOM had the least acceptable scores. Moreover, the higher the level of dental education, the greater the acceptability of some behavioral guidance techniques would be.