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Factors associated with paediatric dentists’ perception of dental pain in pre‐schoolers: a mixed‐methods study
Author(s) -
Daher Anelise,
Costa Márcia,
Costa Luciane R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of paediatric dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.183
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1365-263X
pISSN - 0960-7439
DOI - 10.1111/ipd.12099
Subject(s) - medicine , graduation (instrument) , feeling , paediatric dentistry , perception , dentistry , normative , toothache , focus group , qualitative research , family medicine , psychology , social psychology , social science , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , epistemology , marketing , neuroscience , sociology , business
Background Children dental pain recognition is pointed as a priority in paediatric dentistry, but little is known about dentists’ perception of pre‐schoolers’ dental pain. Aim To understand paediatric dentists’ viewpoint on dental pain (toothache) in pre‐schoolers and to identify the associated factors. Design Mixed‐methods with two phases: (i) preliminary qualitative study (focus group of paediatric dentists), with responses analysed by content analysis and (ii) quantitative survey (self‐administered questionnaire answered by 223 paediatric dentists), with the main outcome ‘perception’ assessed as ‘feel or not prepared’ to identify a pre‐schooler with dental pain. Triangulation was used to discuss the results of each approach. Results (i) Paediatric dentists can observe dental pain in pre‐schoolers when there are normative signs; this pain is related to the changes in a child's behaviour and in dental planning. (ii) Participants were 40.1 ± 8.4 years old, 17.1 ± 8.3years since graduation, 65.9% did not feel prepared to identify a pre‐schooler with dental pain. This feeling of unpreparedness was associated with younger specialists ( P = 0.01) and less time since graduation ( P < 0.01). Triangulation showed a convergence of the qualitative and quantitative approaches. Conclusion Noticing dental pain in pre‐schoolers was associated with specialists’ experience and the need for visible signs; dentists do not always feel completely prepared to recognise pain in pre‐schoolers.