APPRAISAL OF BEHAVIORAL MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES FOR ASSESSING DENTAL ANXIETY AND FEAR IN CHILDREN - A REVIEW

The aim of this article is to review and evaluate behavioral and physi ological measurement techniques frequently used to assess dental anxie ty and fear in children. Attention is given to the data collected, the empirical findings obtained, and the availability of normative data. The main focus, however is on the reliability and validity. Results sh ow that all questionnaires are open to criticism. Of the behavioral me asures, Melamed's Behavior Profile Rating Scale is to be preferred to Frankl's Rating Scale, Venham Rating Scales, and Visual Analogue Scale s. The main reasons are that Melamed's BPRS measures the behavior of t he child more precisely and that it has superior psychometric properti es. Furthermore, because of their practical, conceptual, and psychomet ric problems, physiological measures at this stage are found to be les s appropriate for assessing dental fear in children. It is concluded t hat a behavioral measure is not always the ideal, but often the only a vailable technique for assessing dental fear in children.