Assessment of psychological changes in young children during dental treatment: Analysis of the autonomic nervous activity and electroencephalogram.

Background: Understanding the emotional changes in children during dental treatment is necessary for providing stress-free care.

Aim: To objectively assess the stress associated with dental treatment in children, based on the autonomic nervous activity and the electroencephalogram (EEG).

Design: Twenty-two children aged 4-9 years were recruited from outpatients of a paediatric clinic.

Analysis of physiological responses associated with emotional changes induced by viewing video images of dental treatments.

Since the understanding of emotional changes induced by dental treatments is important for dentists to provide a safe and comfortable dental treatment, we analyzed physiological responses during watching video images of dental treatments to search for the appropriate objective indices reflecting emotional changes. Fifteen healthy young adult subjects voluntarily participated in the present study. Electrocardiogram (ECG), electroencephalogram (EEG) and corrugator muscle electromyogram (EMG) were recorded and changes of them by viewing videos of dental treatments were analyzed.