Do Parental and Children’s Dental Anxiety Affect Childhood Dental Caries?

Dental anxiety is an unpleasant reaction to fear or stress related to the dental environment and can be observed in both parents and children as dental patients. Despite several studies challenging the significance of parental anxiety in influencing a child's response to dental treatment, conflicting results have emerged regarding the impact of both parental and children's anxiety on the development of dental caries.

This study aimed to explore the association between parental and children's dental anxiety and the occurrence of dental caries in children.

A cross-sectional study involving 7 - 12-year-old students and their parents in schools of Rasht, Iran, utilized the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) for parents and the Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale (MCDAS) questionnaire for children. Participants were chosen through a multistage sampling process. A trained dentist assessed children's dental caries using the DMFT/dmft (decayed, missing, and filled teeth) Index. The data were analyzed using the chi-square test and linear regression.

The study included 275 parents and an equal number of children, with a mean child age of 9.32 ± 1.85 years. The findings indicated a significant relationship between maternal dental anxiety and DMFT + dmft scores in boys (P = 0.049). The study revealed that the number of teeth with caries experience (P = 0.023), child's sex (P = 0.007), history of dental clinic visits (P = 0.045), and maternal dental anxiety (P = 0.043) significantly influenced the child's dental anxiety.

Children with anxious parents showed lower DMFT/dmft values, suggesting increased attention to their dental health. The study highlights the impact of parental dental anxiety on children's oral well-being and emphasizes the need for comprehensive strategies to address dental anxiety in both parents and children.