Child dental fear as measured with the Dental Subscale of the Children’s Fear Survey Schedule: the impact of referral status and type of informant (child versus parent)

Abstract

[corrected] The validity of parental ratings of their children dental fear should be questioned, particularly in high-fear populations. Self-ratings should, as far as possible, be used to complement parental ratings. One consequence of using the standard cut-off score is the risk of overlooking some patients needs for special attention. Further research is needed to establish and validate age-and gender-differentiated cut-off scores on the CFSS-DS.