Nobody likes to visit a dentist and it is an uphill task to get children to keep any appointment with a dentist.
But researchers have found a way to overcome this obvious reluctance among kids. They say that children are not afraid to go to a dentist if they are treated with honesty.
The researchers at Queen Mary, University of London, conducted a study, in which they found that the best way to deal with a child's fear of visiting a dentist is to tell him/her the purpose of the visit rather than pretending.
For the study, the researchers studied nine and 10 years old children from the Osmani Primary School in east London. The researchers engaged the children in innovative drama techniques developed by Alistair Campbell, a senior drama lecturer at Queen Mary. The children were told to perform and play games using real-life dentistry equipments to recreate a visit to the dentist.
The researchers found that children were ready to go to a dentist if they were properly explained the reasons for the visit. Campbell said that for the dentist's visit parents need to be straight forward with the children. "We wanted to find out why some children don't go to the dentist. What surprised us was how the children we worked with emphasised that they were not 'stupid' and they knew they had to go to the dentist, but they didn't want their parents to pretend to them that it wouldn't hurt or that the mouthwash tastes nice just because it is colored pink. They just wanted them to be honest. In fact during the drama role play we discovered that it was often the adult/parent that transferred their anxiety of going to the dentist onto their child," he said.
Co-author Ben Wong explained that the way of communicating with a child matters. He stressed on the fact that parents and the dentists need to be clear with children regarding their checkups. One pupil actually said, "I'm scared, it really hurts" but admitted that he had actually never been to the dentist. It is clear that this is more about communication.
The dentists and the adults have a responsibility to communicate to the child. Be honest and explain that the procedures may be uncomfortable. It is important that children are encouraged to go to dentists and it's essential that they learn about oral and dental hygiene at an early age. The key message is "tell, show, do and most importantly be honest and don't lie."
The researchers have also made a video, which can be used in other schools to help educate children.
