Mehdi Mikelani Akhoreh Ouliaei, Farnaz Farhad, Hamid Sarlak,
Volume 28, Issue 2 (4-2025)
Abstract
Introduction: Considering parents' preferences and opinions is an important factor in dentists' choice of treatment techniques. Despite the relatively low attitude of parents towards the use of the "parental presence/absence" technique, dentists still use this technique during pediatric dental treatment. The present study was conducted with the aim of simultaneously investigating the dentists' attitudes regarding the "presence/absence of parents" technique during the treatment of 4-10-year-old children and determining the factors affecting this attitude.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the attitudes of 83 dentists regarding the "presence/absence of parents" technique were evaluated using an investigator-designed questionnaire. The questionnaire scored dentists' attitudes regarding the above technique and evaluated the background factors affecting the child's attitude. Data were analyzed with a significance level of 0.05.
Results: The mean attitude score of the participants was 60.61±12.99. Also, 55.4% of participants considered this technique "unsuccessful". The factors "type of treatment", "child's age", "child's behavior", "parental behavior" and "implementation of the presence/absence technique", significantly affected the participants' attitudes.
Conclusions: Dentists do not hold a highly positive attitude toward the "presence/absence of parents" technique. According to dentists working in pediatric dentistry, this technique has low success in guiding children’s behavior.
