1. CHILDREN’S PERCEPTION OF THEIR DENTISTS Maha AL-SARHEED

2. INTRODUCTION Fear of dentistry occurs in 5-6% percent of population and 16% among school-age children Friedson, 1956 Fear of dentists and dental treatment has been considered a major hindrance to the delivery of quality dental services Corah et al., 1979

3. Continued Good communication between physicians and patients has demonstrable consequences for patients’ emotional and physical well-being Waitzkin, 1984 A strong rapport on child’s first visit helps create a comfortable atmosphere in which the child does not feel threatened Mathewson, 1995

4. Continued Important factor to patient’s perception and liking of dentist Sight of anesthetic needle Sight, sound and sensation of dental handpiece and bur Kleinknecht et al., 1973

5. Aim of the Study To identify children attitude to the dental visit and their perception toward their dentist

6. METHOD and SUBJECTS Saudi children aged 9-12 years Elementary schools Survey by questionnaire

7. Items: 1-4, Multiple choice questions

8. Items 5-11: set of pictures about clinic, dentist gender, outfit and infection control measures

9. Continued Approval of the CDRC Pilot study on 20 children Data coded and entered into the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Descriptive and analytic approaches used Chi-square test and non-parametric test at 5% level of significance used

10. RESULTS Respond rate of 94.19 % Demographic distribution Age(%)Gender(%) 9-10 199 (52) 11-12 184 (48) Male 189(49.3) Female 194(50.7)

11. Continued Table 2 Summary of child’s response to the dental visit P>0.005 as male (16%) didn’t like their visit compared to 6% of female QuestionResponseNumber(%) Have you been to dentistYes No 282(73.6) 101(26.4) How did you feelLike it Don’t like it Afraid Don’t know 246(64.2) 43(11.2) 40(10.4) 54(14.1)

12. Continued Children’s perception to Dentist gender and body smell ItemsNumber (%) Do you prefer to be treated by a male or female dentist? Female Male 184(48) 199(52) How does your dentist smell? Good Bad 337(88) 46(12)

13. Continued Which dentist do you prefer?

14. Continued P> 0.05

15. Continued

16. P>0.005 as female liked more colored outfit

17. Continued

18. What are the things that you hate most when you go to the dentist

19. CONCLUSION ¾ of the study sample had visit a dental clinic 60% of them liked their dental visit No preferable of dentist’s gender

20. Continued Majority reported dentist having a good smell Traditional white coat is still preferred for dentist in the dental clinic A male dentist with traditional head cover is preferred

21. Continued Half the children preferred dentists to wear mask & protective eye glasses Children favored a decorated dental clinic with toys and posters Children were concerned about dental instruments and procedure rather than dentist itself

22. شكرا