Effectiveness of a smartphone application on dental anxiety in adolescents: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Dental anxiety is a common issue among adolescents. Despite the use of smartphones being an important part of their daily lives, only a few digital-based interventions for dental anxiety have been tested in randomized controlled trials (RCT). AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate a new smartphone application (App) named FALE, which was designed to demonstrate interest from the dentist to adolescent and to reduce dental anxiety. DESIGN: This is a RCT in which 184 adolescents aged 10-19 years were randomly allocated into the intervention group (IG) or the control group (CG). The intervention was applied in the waiting room before the consultation at a dental clinic. The IG answered the FALE, which contained 14 questions-of which the first and last questions addressed anxiety, whereas the CG answered the question about anxiety twice with an interval between them. RESULTS: There was a significant difference in the distribution of anxiety rating frequencies before and after the intervention period in both groups. For the IG, there was a reduction in anxiety after the intervention of 16.29%, and, in the CG, a reduction of 2.2% (p < .001). CONCLUSION: The FALE App effectively reduced dental anxiety before the appointment.

Translation, Cross-cultural Adaptation and Reliability Analysis of the Survey of Anxiety and Information for Dentists (SAID) among Brazilian Adolescents

ABSTRACT Objective: To translate, perform a cross-cultural adaptation and reliability analysis of the Survey of Anxiety and Information for Dentists (SAID) for use with Brazilian adolescents. Material and Methods: The SAID was translated into Brazilian Portuguese and back-translated to English. An expert committee compared both versions and examined their equivalence. Then, a face validation was performed with 10 adolescents. The SAID was applied in printed format with 25 questions. Participants answered and commented on the questions with a researcher to confirm the understanding and provide suggestions. The suggestions were implemented, and the expert committee approved the final version of the SAID in Brazilian Portuguese. The psychometric properties were tested with 60 adolescents aged 10 to 19 years. Participants answered the Brazilian version of the SAID before their first dental appointment and two weeks later to determine test-retest reliability. Reliability was analyzed by internal consistency analysis (Cronbach's alpha) and test-retest (ICC). Results: The instrument presented excellent reliability according to internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.77) and test-retest coefficients (ICC = 0.88; 95% CI: 0.81-0.93). The Kappa coefficients and the degree of agreement of the dichotomous questions indicated good reproducibility of the new version. Conclusion: The SAID translation, cross-cultural adaptation and reliability analysis were completed successfully. Thus, the Brazilian version of the SAID can be a useful survey tool for dental care of adolescent patients.