ArticleBMC oral health2016
Professional dental prophylaxis increases salivary cortisol in children with dental behavioural management problems: a longitudinal study.
Article in BMC oral health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evaluating effects of animal-assisted therapy on pediatric dental care patients: A pilot clinical trial.Journal of the American Dental Association (1939) · 2025Trial
- Assessing Pediatric Dental Stress Through Wearable Technology: Influence of Procedure Type, Treatment Phase, and Age.European journal of dentistry · 2026Article
- Evaluation of salivary alpha-amylase and cortisol levels in patients undergoing orthodontic mini-implant treatment: a short-term prospective comparative study.European journal of orthodontics · 2026Article
- Salivary Cortisol as a Biomarker for Assessing Fear and Anxiety in Patients with Molar-Incisor Hypomineralization.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Oral issues and childhood stress in eight-to-ten-year-old schoolchildren: a case-control study.Clinical oral investigations · 2024Article
- Impact of dental anxiety on dental caries and salivary alkaline phosphatase in children across different nutritional statuses.Journal of medicine and life · 2023Article
- Stress levels of a group of dentists while providing dental care under clinical, deep sedation, and general anesthesia.Clinical oral investigations · 2023Article
- Salivary Cortisol and Sustained Auditory Attention in Children with and without Cleft Lip and Palate.International archives of otorhinolaryngology · 2022Article
- Dental procedures cause stress in children with cerebral palsy?Journal of clinical and experimental dentistry · 2021Article
- Paediatric dentists' stress during dental care for children under sedation: a cross-sectional study.European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2021Article
- The Evaluation of Dental Anxiety in Primary School Children: A Cross-Sectional Study from Romania.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Do preschoolers with adverse birth outcomes have more distress during dental examination?European archives of paediatric dentistry : official journal of the European Academy of Paediatric Dentistry · 2019Article
- Nine prophylactic polishing pastes: impact on discoloration, gloss, and surface properties of a CAD/CAM resin composite.Clinical oral investigations · 2019Article
- Investigating the association between stress, saliva and dental caries: a scoping review.BMC oral health · 2018Article
- Effect of professional dental prophylaxis on the surface gloss and roughness of CAD/CAM restorative materials.Journal of clinical and experimental dentistry · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDental procedures may cause stress and increase the salivary cortisol levels. It is important to known if apparently simple procedures such as professional dental prophylaxis at low speed (DP) are stressful for children with dental behaviour management problems (DBMP) to help with behaviour guidance strategies. This longitudinal study aimed to evaluate if DP changes a physiological marker of stress (salivary cortisol) in children with DBMP who were referred to dental treatment under sedation.
methodsOne paediatric dentist carried out a DP with rubber cup and pumice followed by dental examination in 39 children aged 2-5 years, prior to the dental sedation appointment. Children's saliva was collected at three different moments: upon waking (UW), on arrival at the dental office reception area (RA) and 25 min after the dental prophylaxis (DP). The saliva samples were analysed using an enzyme immunoassay kit. The Wilcoxon test was used in paired comparison (P < 0.05).
resultsSalivary cortisol levels decreased from UW (0.34; 0.15-0.54) to RA (0.14; 0.08-0.56) (P = 0.019) and increased from RA to DP (0.25; 0.06-1.48) (P = 0.008). Higher salivary cortisol levels were observed at DP when compared to RA in children who did not have previous dental treatment (P = 0.007), had toothache (P = 0.006), presented some protest behaviour during DP (P = 0.008), or needed protective stabilisation by parents for the dental examination (P = 0.005).
conclusionsPaediatric dentists should be aware that even simple procedures such as professional dental prophylaxis are related to stress in young children.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.