Impact of verbal explanation on parental acceptance level of different behavior management techniques in dental office

Parents’ attitudes towards different aspects of dentistry especially the use of behavior management techniques (BMTs) can greatly effect a child’s cooperation in a dental office. The present quasi-experimental study was conducted with the aim to assess the effect of a verbal explanation on parents’ acceptance level of the most common BMTs used in pediatric dentistry.
A videotaped presentation showing the 6 most commonly used BMTs in Iran was presented to 60 parents recruited by a convenient sampling method. Using visual analogue scale (VAS), the acceptance level of each BMT was measured before and after an explanation on the reasons of each BMT. Paired t-test, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) and independent t-test were used for statistical analysis of data. Significance level was set as 0.050.
Giving a verbal explanation on BMTs had a statistically significant effect on the acceptance of BMTs. Tell-show-do (TSD) and hand-over-mouth (HOM) techniques achieved the highest and lowest mean scores of parental acceptance, respectively. The acceptance of physical restraint (P = 0.013) and parental presence/absence (PPA) (P = 0.015) of parents was obtained higher among men compared to women using t-test.
Giving an explanation to parents while performing a BMT is effective in raising parent's acceptance of the technique. Non-invasive methods such as TSD and PPA of parents are the more favorable methods to parents.