Science & Technologies Volume IV, Number 1, 2014 Medicine 91 FACTORS IN DENTAL ENVIRONMENT RELATED TO DEVELOPMENT OF CHILD DENTAL FEAR AND PARENT-CHILD AGREEMENT ON ITS EVALUATION Maria Shindova 1, Ani Belcheva 1, Nonka Mateva 2 1 Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Medical University – Plovdiv 4000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria mariya.shindova@gmail.com, abeltcheva@yahoo.com 2 Department of Medical Informatics, Biostatistics, E-learning, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University – Plovdiv, 4000, Plovdiv, Bulgaria nonka.mateva@abv.bg FACTORS IN DENTAL ENVIRONMENT RELATED TO DEVELOPMENT OF CHILD DENTAL FEAR AND PARENT-CHILD AGREEMENT ON ITS EVALUATION Maria Shindova 1 , Ani Belcheva 1 , Nonka Mateva 2 1 Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Medical University – Plovdiv, Bulgaria 2 Department of Medical Informatics, Biostatistics, E-learning, Faculty of Public Health, Medical University – Plovdiv, Bulgaria ABSTRACT Introduction: Dental fear is considered one of the main reasons for the deterioration of oral health. There are numerous instruments for assessing dental fear for children and their parents. There is little information available concerning the extent of parent-child agreement on child dental fear. Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the factors in dental environment related to the development of child dental fear and the extent of parent-child agreement on its evaluation. Material and methods: The study was conducted among 67 children between 6 and 12 years old and their parents, visiting the Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Plovdiv. The Dental Subscale of the Children`s Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS) was used to assess the dental fear of each patient. The children were asked to fill out the child version of CFSS-DS. The parents were asked to fill out the parental version of CFSS-DS on behalf of their children. Results: Mean of CFSS-DS for children is 30.28 (SD= 9.59) and for parents 32.49 (SD= 11.60). Spearman correlation coefficient, used as a measure of agreement between the parental and child versions of CFSS-DS, is found to be r=0.52. Both children and parents report as most feared item the `sight of injection` and as least fearful items `people in white uniform` and `having to open your mouth`. Significant difference in fear scores between children and their parents is found only in three items related to dental fear - `choking` (p˂0.005), `dentists` (p˂0.005) and `having the dentists clean your teeth ` (p˂0.001). Conclusions: The parent-child agreement on dental fear of 6-12-years-old children is moderate. Parents are reliable reporters of their child`s dental fear during dental treatment. The most feared factor in dental environment is common in almost all people. Parents estimate the dental fear of their children higher in regard to several items, which are not found as risk factors for the development of dental fear in this age group. Key words: dental fear, evaluation scales, children INTRODUCTION Dental fear is a normal emotional reaction to threatening stimuli in a dental treatment situation. Dental fear is considered one of the main reasons for the deterioration of oral health [3]. There are numerous instruments for assessing dental fear for children and their parents [9,15]. There is little information available concerning the extent of parent-child agreement on child dental fear [6,8,10].