Children and Parents Acceptance About Restorations

Objectives: Investigate the opinion of children and their parents of four different types of restorations placed in primary molars.
Methods:
A mixed method study in which both children and their parents were involved. In the quantitative study, children and parents gave their opinion using a face scale about four different types of restorations immediately after placement, evaluating how satisfied they were. In the qualitative part, children and their parents were interviewed to report their preference among the four types of restorations using dental models and photos.
Results:
In the quantitative study, 1045 restorations were placed, being conventional restorations (198 with Amalgam and 205 with Composite resin) and atraumatic interventions (408 with Glass Ionomer - ART, Atraumatic Restorative Treatment, and 234 Stainless Steel Crowns -Hall Technique). Almost all participants (children and parents) gave a positive opinion (from 94.9 to 100%) about the four types of restorations placed in the children. There was no statistical significant difference in the opinion of the acceptance of the four types of restorations placed (chi-square test, p-value>0.05). In the qualitative approach, 18 children and 11 parents were interviewed. If they could choose, children (16/18) preferred the steel crown, while parents (10/11) preferred aesthetic materials such as Composite resin and glass ionomer cement.
Conclusions:
It was observed a high degree of satisfaction with children and their parents, for the four types of restorations after placement. However, if could be chosen in advance, children prefer the stainless steel crown and parents a tooth colored material.