Impact of verbal explanation on parental acceptance level of different behavior management techniques in dental office

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Parents’ attitudes towards different aspects of dentistry especially the use of behavior management techniques (BMTs) can greatly effect a child’s cooperation in a dental office. The present quasi-experimental study was conducted with the aim to assess the effect of a verbal explanation on parents’ acceptance level of the most common BMTs used in pediatric dentistry.METHODS: A videotaped presentation showing the 6 most commonly used BMTs in Iran was presented to 60 parents recruited by a convenient sampling method. Using visual analogue scale (VAS), the acceptance level of each BMT was measured before and after an explanation on the reasons of each BMT. Paired t-test, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t-test were used for statistical analysis of data. Significance level was set as 0.050.RESULTS: Giving a verbal explanation on BMTs had a statistically significant effect on the acceptance of BMTs. Tell-show-do (TSD) and hand-over-mouth (HOM) techniques achieved the highest and lowest mean scores of parental acceptance, respectively. The acceptance of physical restraint (P = 0.013) and parental presence/absence (PPA) (P = 0.015) of parents was obtained higher among men compared to women using t-test.CONCLUSION: Giving an explanation to parents while performing a BMT is effective in raising parents' acceptance of the technique. Non-invasive methods such as TSD and PPA of parents are the more favorable methods to parents.