Abstract
We report on a new and simpler method of estimating the dental anxiety of the infant. The materials of this study consisted of the ten dolls and a miniature dental office. All of the dolls and a miniature dental office for the study used in this examination were handmade. We gave the dolls to the infant, and let the infant put them in a miniature dental office as they saw fit. Sixty preschool children (ranging from three to six years old), twenty-nine boys and thirty-one girls with previous dental experience were studied. The following was obtained by this study:
1. We were able to classify them into four types based on how the dolls were arranged with respect to then chairs which installed in the miniature dental office. The types were as follow;
Type 1: The representative doll of the patient itself is put by the side of the family, and no one is put on the dental chair.
Type 2: The representative dolls expect that representing the patient are put on the dental chair.
Type 3: The representative dolls of the patient are collected and put on the line or do one place.
Type 4: The representative doll of the patient itself is put on the dental chair.
2. The increased tendency of the Type 4 was recognized, it was mane significance between Type 3and Type 4 with the increase in age.
3. A age-based fluctuation in Type 2 and Type 3 were not recognized, It seemed to be the problem in a attachment between the family and the child.