Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research. 2022 Mar, Vol-16(3): ZC14-ZC17 14 14 DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2022/52961.16083 Original Article Dentistry Section Evaluation of Knowledge, Attitude, and Practices about Paediatric Dental Apps among Paediatric Dentists in India: A Questionnaire- based, Cross-sectional Study INTRODUCTION The science of today could be the technology of tomorrow, with the advancement in technology a smartphone has gone from being a simple two-way pager to a Global Positioning System (GPS) Navigation device-embedded web browser, instant messaging device and a game console. It is seen that children from all age groups be it a toddler to a teenager are all stuck up to smartphones playing games or browsing the internet. With such an influential platform the question arises that why paediatric dentists could not use these dental apps for educating the patients about the procedure of the treatment which can help to reduce their fear or apprehension. A child's first dental visit is pivotal for the reduction of dental anxiety and the success of treatment in the future. If this is not managed, it might continue in their adolescence [1]. Dental anxiety is of prime concern for the paediatric dentist as it can prevent a child from seeking effective dental care by creating the most challenging and uncooperative environment. Some children express fear and anxiety while others exhibit reluctant behaviour such as crying, rage, cessation of talking, and playing or attempting to run away from dental chairs which in turn also leads the fluctuations in blood pressure and heart rate [2]. Treatment of anxious children is stressful as it could consume more time and resources which then lead to an unpleasant experience for both dentists as-well-as the child. Thus, anxiety could ultimately reduce the efficacy and quality of overall treatment in children [3]. The ultimate success of paediatric dental treatment depends on behaviour management involving interaction between the dentist and the patient which then builds trust and helps to alleviate anxiety and overall fear of treatment. Thus, it enhances the child's effective coping skills for acceptance of dental treatment [4]. Tell-Show-Do modeling, positive and negative reinforcement, are the most frequently used techniques by the dentist to alleviate a child's fear and anxiety, of which, Tell-Show-Do developed by Addlestone in 1959, is a cornerstone of behaviour modification techniques. It is based on the principle of learning and helps the children to familiarise to dental procedure thus reducing the anticipatory anxiety [5]. In India, the frequency of mobile phone use is 68.6%, the rate of use by children is 56.6%. The rate also shows that 40% of them were below 10 years of age [6]. Fear of dental treatment is a common problem in children and adolescents worldwide; hence, new strategies are being constantly developed to manage the anxiety-provoking situation. Smartphone apps have been used for behaviour guidance by developing virtual reality immersion. This being a promising distraction technique helps them to adapt to the dental environment and also been proved for allowing them to develop excellent rapport between the dentist and paediatric patients [7]. Dental apps like “my lovely dentist”, “doctor kids: dentist”, “Baby bus dentist”, are useful in reducing the anxiety and can be installed on the Android/ IOS/Windows platform. These apps are user-friendly and animated thus, the children would love playing the game and watching step by step procedure an animated dentist performs [8]. After the literature search was carried out, there were no studies found regarding knowledge, attitude and practices of the concept of dental apps among paediatric dentists in India. This study aims to assess and understand the gap between knowledge, attitude, and practices regarding the concept of anxiety-reducing dental apps. KRISHNA SANDEEP KADAM 1 , NIRAJ SATISH GOKHALE 2 , SHIVAYOGI MALLAPPA HUGAR 3 , RIDDHI SHRIPAD JOSHI 4 , NEHA KOHLI 5 , POOJA KISHORE DIALANI 6 Keywords: Applications, Artificial intelligence, Fear, Google form, Perception ABSTRACT Introduction: Dental anxiety is of prime concern for the paediatric dentist as it can prevent a child from seeking effective dental care by creating conditions that are challenging to the paediatric dentists and thereby not allowing to render the highest quality care. The dental application (apps) can be a useful tool in alleviating the anxiety in children, but these apps have not yet been evaluated for its use by paediatric dentists. Aim: To assess knowledge, attitude and practices about paediatric dental apps among paediatric dentists in India. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional questionnaire- based study was conducted among 450 paediatric dentists in India. The study was conducted over a span of one month. A 16-item validated questionnaire with Cronbach's alpha coefficient value of 0.82, containing professional demographic data, knowledge, attitude, and practices about dental apps were distributed among the participants. The collected data was subjected to descriptive analysis was done using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software (version 20.0 Chicago IL, USA). Results: The study included (N=370) out of which 159 (42.97%) were female respondents and 211 (57.03%) were male respondents. The mean age of the surveyed professionals was 34.14±9.11 years. The results showed that the correlation between knowledge and attitude was found to be highly statistically significant (p=0.0001) however, no statistically significant results were found when a comparison was made between knowledge and practices (p-value=0.7684) and also attitude and practices (p-value=0.0930). Conclusion: The study concludes that, there is a need for creating awareness about the use of dental apps as an adjunct with conventional behaviour modification techniques among paediatric dentists in our country.