Parent-Child Separation during Dental Care

Methods: A total of 227 subjects were included in this study. Group 1 consisted of 152 subjects, who were the parents of children attending the ministry of health dental clinics. The information obtained from parents or legal guardians were demographics as well as their preference whether to be inside or outside the dental clinic during their children's treatment. Group 2 consisted of 75 dental care providers (pediatric dentists and general practitioners) in the ministry of health, private practice, and Kuwait university dental clinics. The information obtained was both demographics in addition to their preference to have the parents inside or outside the dental clinic during the child's patient treatment in normal situations. Both groups were asked to complete a closed-ended questionnaire. Results: The results of this study demonstrated a statistically significant relationship between the child age and parents' preference (P-value = 0.005). There was a statistically significant relationship between dentist specialty and the preference of having the parents inside or outside the dental clinic (P-value <0.001).

Conclusion: This study showed that parents preferred to be inside the clinic with younger children, and as age advanced this preference decreased. Pediatric dentists showed an overall preference towards parent's presence inside the clinic during the child's dental treatment especially if it was the child's first dental visit, while the majority of general dentists preferred to exclude the parents from the dental clinic.