• Kjetil Strøm, Anne Rønneberg, Anne B Skaare, Ivar Espelid, and Tiril Willumsen.
• Department of Paediatric Dentistry and Behavioural Science, Institute of Clinical Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Oslo, P.O.Box 1109, Blindern, 0317, Oslo, Norway, kjetil.strom@odont.uio.no.
• Eur Arch Paediatr Dent. 2015 Aug 1; 16 (4): 349-55.

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between dentists' education in treatment of dental anxiety (DA), dentists' attitudes towards patients with DA and dentists' use of BMT.MethodsAn anonymous questionnaire was sent electronically to 611 dentists in the Public Dental Service in Norway. Statistical evaluation was done using cross tabulation with Chi square and logistic regression analyses.ResultsThe response rate was 65 % (n = 391). About half of the respondents (53 %, n = 208) had followed postgraduate courses in treating patients with DA. The following were the most common attitudes towards treating young patients with DA: it feels like making a contribution (72 %, n = 286), it is difficult or tiresome (54 %, n = 215) and it is a positive challenge (51 %, n = 203). Dentists who had taken postgraduate courses in DA more often reported anxious patients as a positive challenge (60 vs. 42 %, p < 0.001) and were less reluctant to treat these patients (5 vs. 15 %, p = 0.002). The most frequently used BMT was tell-show-do (87 %, n = 340), followed by relaxation (35 %, n = 132), distraction (25 %, n = 94), systematic cognitive behaviour therapy (22 %, n = 84) and conscious sedation (18 %, n = 69). Dentists without postgraduate courses in DA used fewer techniques when treating these patients (OR 2.1, 95 % CI 1.3-3.3, p = 0.001) compared with dentists who had taken these courses.ConclusionCountry of graduation and postgraduate courses in DA had a strong relationship with dentists' use of BMT and dentists' attitudes towards young patients with DA.

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