So is your child scared of going to the dentist?

It’s not uncommon to see parents coming up with creative and innovative ways to bring their kids to the dentist. There’s usually a lot of persuading, cajoling, and bribing happening.

You’re probably wondering if it’s just a natural reaction to dentists, was it influenced by television or any sort of medium they are exposed to or there’s a real explanation to this irrational fear of dentists.

Turns out, it can be passed on by parents to their children.

The Scientists at Rey Juan Carlos University of Madrid have conducted a study that shows the significant role parents play in the transmission of fear of the dentists within the family.

They studied 183 children age 7 – 12 years and their parents and discovered that fear levels between fathers, mothers and kids are intertwined.

As confirmed by their study, the higher the level of dentist fear or anxiety in one family member, the higher the level amongst the family members. It also exposes that fathers play a key role in the transmission of this dentist fear as they as act as mediating variable. How? Most children pay more attention to the “emotional reaction of the fathers when deciding if situations at the dentist are potentially stressful”.

In order to combat this, the mother must play a more involved role and fathers need to show their kids that going to the dentist shouldn’t be feared at all. To appear calm in the face of all that dental equipment is key and this conveys the right attitude to the kid.

How about you? Was your father or mother scared to go to the dentist?

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