Factores que influyen en la ansiedad dental del paciente infantil

Abstract

Dental anxiety is a very common problem today, affecting both children and adults. The presence of this type of emotions can trigger important conflicts when performing dental treatment due to the occurrence of inappropriate behaviors. Several factors may contribute to trigger or increase anxiety, so that prior knowledge could minimize the possible adverse consequences. The objective of this review is to present the factors that may influence the dental anxiety in children. Although no conclusive results have been obtained, it was found that psychological factors (parents and friends influence, patient personality, gender, previous experiences ...) have more influence in the origin of dental anxiety. The physical/environmental factors (decoration of the dental office, clothes or uniform, dental instrumental, socioeconomic level...) can also favor, in certain occasions o increase fears at the dental visit: Therefore, it is recommended that more studies be carried out in order to achieve more reliable results in order to reduce the factors that cause dental anxiety and fear in young patients.