CASE REPORT
Behavioral Modification of an Uncooperative Preschool Child with Sickle Beta Thalassemia Disease in a Dental Clinic: A Case Report
Hussain Alhasan1, Ahmad Samara2, Nada Bamashmous3, Heba Jafar Sabbagh3, *
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2022Volume: 16
E-location ID: e187421062203141
Publisher ID: e187421062203141
DOI: 10.2174/18742106-v16-e2203141
Article History:
Received Date: 4/10/2021Revision Received Date: 30/12/2021
Acceptance Date: 26/1/2022
Electronic publication date: 23/05/2022
Collection year: 2022
open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background:
Treating medically compromised pediatric patients with dental anxiety can be challenging, especially when general anesthesia and sedation are not an option. This paper reported a case of an uncooperative preschool child who was medically compromised and presented in the dental clinic with Severe-Early-Childhood-Caries (S-ECC). The dental behavior management of such a case was not previously discussed in the literature.
Case Presentation:
This paper explains the dental management and behavior modification carried out for a 5-year-old male child who was diagnosed with sickle beta thalassemia disease (Sβ-thalassemia), S-ECC, had a negative dental behavior, and was successfully and efficiently treated under a dental setting. The patient presented with his mother, who was concerned about her child’s decayed teeth and sought dental treatment as soon as possible to avoid any risk of infection. Dental examination revealed multiple dental caries and high caries risk. The patient’s behavior can be classified as definitely negative with high level of anxiety. The mother showed permissive parenting and the father exerted an authoritative parenting style. Dental management focused mainly on child behavioral modification via utilizing the difference between the parenting styles. Middle way of treatment, the child showed behavioral improvement, which was progressing toward the end of the treatment. Teeth were successfully restored with composite and metal crowns.
Conclusion:
With several behavior management techniques and understanding the parenting styles, the patient's behavior improved, and the treatment plan was successfully used on a dental chair without the need for more advanced management under general anesthesia.
