Many children are anxious about visiting the dentist, but viewing positive images of dentistry for 2 minutes in the waiting room prior to their appointment significantly reduced study participants’ anticipatory dental anxiety.
The study examined how looking at cards with positive or neutral images of dentistry printed on them influenced children’s anxiety levels before they entered the dental chair.
Thirty-four children between the ages of 5 and 17 looked either at a set of four images that were neutral regarding dentistry (i.e., images of homes and gardens) or four images that were positive regarding dentistry (e.g., children smiling while in a dental chair, a teddy bear in a dental chair, a 5-year-old holding a large toothbrush). Study participants could look at any image for as long as they liked and cycle through the cards as they wished. Before the children went in to see the dentist, their levels of anxiety were assessed.
Viewing the positive images significantly reduced participants’ anticipatory anxiety relative to children who looked at neutral images.
- The nurse who distributed the images was aware of whether children were receiving the positive or neutral image cards, although participants were randomly assigned to the neutral or positive images groups.
- Data were collected prior to the child entering the dental chair itself, while still in the waiting room, so the reductions in anxiety may not be found once the child sits down in the dental chair.
- Pediatric dentists determined if images were positive or neutral, not children.
- The sample size was small.