Parental acceptance of advanced behaviour management techniques in normal treatment and in emergency situations used in paediatric dentistry.

BACKGROUND: Behaviour management techniques (BMT) in children are essential to achieve a successful dental treatment, but parents are not equally accepting BMT.

AIM: To investigate the parental acceptance of advanced behaviour management techniques used in paediatric dentistry in normal and in emergency situations in Germany.

METHODS: Parents bringing their children for dental care answered a questionnaire on the acceptance of four advanced BMT: passive restraint, active restraint, nitrous oxide sedation and general analgesia. The study was conducted in five university dental clinics in Germany. Parents rated overall acceptance of each technique using a five points Likert scale.

RESULTS: 136 parents answered the questionnaire. The acceptance of all advanced BMT was significantly higher when the treatment was urgent (p < 0.001, paired sample t test). Nitrous oxide sedation was rated as the most acceptable technique in normal treatment (52.6%) and in emergency situation (68.2%), while passive restraint was the least acceptable technique in both normal (19.9%) and emergency situation (37.8%).

CONCLUSIONS: Parents in Germany are more willing to accept advanced BMT in emergency situations, with nitrous oxide being generally the most preferred technique.