Dental fear and oral health and family characteristics of Finnish children.

Objectives: Our aim was to describe the occurrence of dental fear among Finnish children of different ages and to ascertain how oral health and family characteristics are associated with dental fear.

Methods: The subject groups were aged 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 years in two middle-sized cities, and the 1474 participants were distributed over fairly equal samples of each age. A questionnaire given to each child to be filled out at home enquired about social background, oral hygiene habits, diet, and dental fear. Oral health status was examined clinically and radiographically by two calibrated dentists. Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed for each age group in order to study the associations between dental fear and selected factors.

Results: Dental fear was higher among 12- and 15-year-old children than among the younger ones. Pain, drilling, and local anesthesia were reported to be the most frightening aspects. Excluding the 12-year-olds, children whose family members reported dental fear were more likely to report dental fear than children whose family members did not report dental fear. Six- and 12-year-olds who had experienced caries were more likely to report dental fear than were caries-free children. Among 6-year-olds, father's education modified the effect of a child's caries experience on child dental fear. Frequent intake of sugary items and a limit on eating candies to only one day per week were associated with higher dental fear.

Conclusions: Fear of dental treatment is still fairly common among Finnish children, and the factors associated with it differ with the age of the child.