Dental Anxiety in Children with Epilepsy: The Influence of Parental Anxiety and Medical History

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the impact of parental anxiety and a history of epilepsy on children's dental anxiety. Materials and Methods: The study involved 84 children aged 4 to 12 who visited the Pedodontics Department at Necmettin Erbakan University. The subjects were divided into two groups: children with no history of epilepsy (Group 1, n = 44) and children with a history of epilepsy (Group 2, n = 40). Before receiving dental treatment, each child was asked to independently complete the Children's Dental Anxiety Screening Scale (CFSS-DS) questionnaire. Parental dental anxiety was assessed using the Turkish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS), which categorizes dental anxiety into five levels. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in CFSS-DS total scores between Group 1 and Group 2 (p = 0.103). Pearson Correlation analysis revealed a statistically significant weak positive association between parental anxiety and children's dental anxiety (p = 0.008). Conclusion: This study found a significant and linear correlation between children's dental anxiety and their parents' dental anxiety. However, it could not establish a direct link between a child's medical history of epilepsy and their anxiety.