‘Your teeth you are in control’

Introuction

Around 10% of children and young people have severe dental anxiety¹. Children with dental anxiety tend to have an increased prevalence of untreated decayed teeth and worse quality of life than non-dentally anxious children ^{2, 3}. Treating children with dental anxiety can be challenging with some dental team members reluctant to carry out dental treatment on anxious patients for fear of reinforcing their dental anxiety. Consequently adolescents with dental anxiety are often referred to secondary dental care services for conscious sedation and their dental anxiety continues into adulthood ⁴. However, there is now growing evidence that psychological therapies, based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy, can work to reduce children’s dental anxiety ^5-7.