EFFECT OF DENTAL EXPERIENCE ON ATTITUDE OF CHILDREN TOWARD THE DENTIST AND DENTAL TREATMENT

치과 치료 경험이 아동의 치과의사와 치과 치료에 대한 태도에 끼치는 영향에 관한 조사 연구

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dental experience on the attitude of children toward the dentist and the dental treatment. The subjects of the study were 1,090 children from second grade to forth grade of three elementary schools of the Iksan city. The children were investigated by the questionnaire which consisted of seven items about the attitude toward the dentist, the attitude toward the dental treatment, the dental reatment experience, the number of times of dental treatment, the last time of the dental visit, pain of dental treatment, and fear of dental treatment. There were significant differences among the grades in the attitude toward the dental treatment and in the attitude toward the dentist (P<0.01). Second grade children had the most negative attitudes. But, there were no differences between boys and girls. Girls felt more pain and fear than boys (P<0.01). There were significant relationships between the pain and the attitude toward the dentist, between the pain and the attitude toward the dental treatment, between the fear and the attitude toward the dentist, and between the fear and the attitude toward the dental treatment (P<0.01, all). The number of dental visit had significant relationship with the attitude toward the dental treatment (P<0.05). There were significant relationships between the pain and the fear and between the attitude toward the dentist and the attitude toward the dental treatment.