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IntJPedodRehabil2114-3262265 090342
IntJPedodRehabil2114-3262265 090342
155]
Original Article
Abstract
Background: We see children from all age groups, be it a toddler to a teenager, stuck up to the mobile phone playing interactive games or even
browsing internet entertainment holds a major share in the field of mobile applications, be it from listening to music or playing online games.
However, very little has happened in favor of pediatric dentistry or even educating the patients about the procedures of their treatment which
can help reduce their fear or apprehension. Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dental apps in the management of
child’s anxiety and behavior. Materials and Methods: Sixty children (24 girls and 36 boys) were made to use mobile dental app called “My
Little Dentist” developed by Tenlogix Games available on the Google Play Store on the android platform of the smartphones. Their anxiety
levels were noted before and after playing the game using the face imaging scale. Results: The results were found to be highly significant;
86.67% patients turned from a negative to positive behavior, 11.67% from positive to definitely positive, and 1.67% from definitely negative
to negative according to Frankl’s behavior rating scale. Conclusion: The mobile dental app was found to be very useful in the dental setup to
reduce the fear and anxiety of the pediatric patients.
DOI: How to cite this article: Patil VH, Vaid K, Gokhale NS, Shah P, Mundada M,
10.4103/ijpr.ijpr_5_17 Hugar SM. Evaluation of effectiveness of dental apps in management of
child behaviour: A pilot study. Int J Pedod Rehabil 2017;2:14-8.
With the advancement in technology, a standard mobile device patients an idea as to what would be the nature of their treatment
has gone from being no more than a simple two‑way pager to in an interactive manner. The patients were virtually made
being a mobile phone, GPS navigation device, an embedded dentists and were made to do patients in the app that included
web browser and instant messaging client, and a handheld extractions, scaling, filling and were taken into confidence and
game console. It is generally seen that children from all the how atraumatically and painlessly a dental procedure could
age groups, be it a toddler to a teenager, stuck up to the mobile be performed was shown to the child [Figure 2]. The children
phone playing interactive games or even browsing internet. were made to make use of the app and perform virtual dental
Today, we have an app for possibly everything. However, treatments. The anxiety levels were noted before and after
very little has happened in favor of pediatric dentistry or using the app using the face imaging scale; furthermore, Frankl
even educating the patients about the procedures of their behavior of the patients was also noted along with the other
treatment which can help reduce their fear or apprehension. scales and was recorded into a standardized form.
On search of the literature, no studies could be found on the Dental procedures were then clinically performed on the same
management of pediatric patients using dental apps. Thus, day by a single operator after making sure that the patient is
with these existing lacunae, this study is an attempt to evaluate completely satisfied and confident about the dental procedures
the effectiveness of dental apps in the management of child’s that were needed to be performed.
anxiety and behavior.
Results
Materials and Methods
The data obtained were entered into a standardized form and
After obtaining the ethical clearance from the Institutional were statistically analyzed using SPSS version 21.0 (IBM
Review Board and written informed consent and assent, sixty SPSS Statistics 21, SPSS South Asia, Bangalore, India).
children (24 girls, 36 boys) in the age group of 8–12 years who Paired t-test was applied for comparison of pre and post scores
attended the dental clinic for the first time and fulfilled the of face imaging scale where P = 0.0000*, t = 21.876 which was
inclusion criteria were randomly selected from the Outpatient statistically significant where P value was set at 0.05 [Figure 3].
Department of Pedodontics and Preventive. Sixty children were The scale applied before playing the game showed that 10%
enrolled into the study which was calculated according to the of the children had mild symptoms, 85% showed moderate
ln (1 − )
formula:[18] n = , where the confidence was 0.95, symptoms, and only 5% had severe symptoms of anxiety
ln (1 − ) [Graph 1]. Postface imaging scales showed that the patients
the probability being 0.06. The sample size obtained was 49; shifted mostly to mild symptoms (56.7%) or no symptoms of
however, considering the dropouts, a sample size was taken as anxiety at all (38.3%) [Graph 2]; the results were found to be
60 in the study. To rule out the bias, all the children enrolled into highly significant. Furthermore, behavior of the patients was
the study needed the same kind of treatments. The children who examined and the data showed that 86.67% patients turned
had reported with pain were not considered for the study. The from a negative to positive Frankl behavior, 11.67% from
parents/guardians were questioned on their child’s anxiety using positive to definitely positive, and 1.67% from definitely
Corah’s dental anxiety scale. In this study, we used a mobile negative to negative. When the difference in gender was
dental app called “My Little Dentist” developed by Tenlogix considered, it was seen that there was a significant reduction
Games available on the Google Play Store on the android and in the anxiety levels of males and females and both were
iOS platform of the smartphones [Figure 1]. The app gave the statistically significant [Tables 1 and 2].
Figure 1: The dental app. Figure 2: The patient being made to use the app.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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