Did children expect more dental pain than they actually felt?

Details

The study investigated how stress and anxiety were associated with schoolchildren’s expectations, perceptions and memories of dental pain. It followed 46 children aged 9 to 12 at a public school in Petrópolis (RJ), Brazil.

Before a procedure to restore the occlusal surface of a permanent first molar under local anaesthetic, researchers recorded demographic characteristics, stress using the children’s stress scale, and state and trait anxiety using the state-trait anxiety inventory. They assessed dental pain using the faces pain scale before the procedure for expected pain, immediately afterward for perceived pain, and six weeks afterward for memory of pain.

Expected pain scores were significantly higher than perceived pain scores, regardless of stress, state anxiety or trait anxiety levels. Children with higher stress scores (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.02–1.09), state anxiety scores (OR 1.15, 95% CI 1.05–1.27) and trait anxiety scores (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.07–1.30) were more likely to report higher expected dental pain scores.

The authors concluded that children anticipated more pain than they perceived after the restoration, and that children with greater stress and anxiety had a distorted evaluation of expected pain before the procedure.