A Study’s Findings.
It’s understandable for parents to want to be in the exam room with their child, particularly on the first dental visit.
There’s actually been much debate about this topic in dental communities for years. Namely, about whether parents being in the room with their child is actually helpful for the child’s comfort or not.
One study from 2011 monitored the heart rate and clinical behavior of 67 5-year old children in their first and second dental appointments. One group of the children participating had their parents with them during the exams, while the second group did not.
Two different pediatric dentists took measurements at the conclusion of each appointment, ultimately with the aim of determining whether there seemed to be a correlation between the parents being present and their children being more comfortable.
Would parents being there result in lower heart rates and a more calm demeanor from the children?
Ultimately, the study found that there was no siginficant correlation between parents being there and children feeling more at ease.
This suggests that a child patient’s comfort during a dental appointment has more to do with the rapport with the practitioner, and perhaps simply how well parents positively framed the appointment beforehand.
The good news of this relates to alternate procedures ours and many healthcare offices had to put in place due to COVID during the height of the pandemic.
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