| Summary: | Background: Assessing anxiety is an important part of the assessment of a child presenting for dental treatment; however, the use of dental anxiety scales in practice is not well-documented.
Aims: To introduce child dental anxiety scales, and to monitor the extent to which dentists used them; to explore the experience and views of dentists regarding anxiety assessment.
Design: A mixed-methods design was employed.
Method: A protocol for child anxiety assessment was introduced to paediatric dentists in Eastman Dental Hospital. After 6 months, 100 patient files were audited to examine compliance with the protocol. Fourteen dentists were interviewed to explore their experience and views regarding anxiety assessment.
Results: Only five patients were assessed using the scales. Thematic analysis of the dentist interviews revealed three themes: ‘Clinical observations and experience: The gold standard’; ‘Scales as an estimate or adjunct’; and ‘Shortcomings and barriers to using scales’.
Conclusions: The dentists in our study did not use anxiety scales, instead they rely on their own experience/judgement. Therefore, scales should be recommended as an adjunct to judgement. Brief scales are recommended as clinicians lack time and expertise in administering anxiety questionnaires. Advantages of using scales and hands-on experience could be incorporated more in undergraduate training.
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