Odontological fear scales in children and adolescents: a literature review

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis conducted through a literature review about scales that quantify or classify fear in children and teenagers, when submitted to dental treatment. The bibliography selection included papers and books from the 20th century, especially those about fears and anxieties. The results initially showed that most of the scales found were made for school children, with few articles about patients below 5 years old. It was also noticed that the majority of scales consisted of adaptations of others, generally made for adults. Therefore, the data showed that there was a need for the construction of a new scale, for children aged 1 to 3 years old, which could be used by pediatric dentists, and that scale was named Scale of Children Behavior Observation.