Contemporary predoctoral paediatric behaviour guidance education in the United States and Canada

Purpose To determine the contemporary educational experiences of predoctoral dental students in the United States and Canada regarding behaviour guidance (BG) of the child patient and assess trends from a previous study in 2004. Methods Data were collected from 32 predoctoral paediatric dentistry programme directors in the United States and Canada via a web-based survey. Results The didactic curriculum hours devoted to the teaching of BG techniques in 2019 are similar to 2004. A majority (60.7%) of programmes do not have a formal assessment of competency with BG techniques. Lectures (n = 28), clinical experience (n = 28) and observation (n = 26) were the most common techniques implemented to teach BG techniques, and tell-show-do (100%), non-verbal communication (82.1%), positive reinforcement (89.3%) and distraction (82.1%) were the techniques that more than 75% of dental students most commonly have hands-on experience with during their dental education. In 2019, students tended to have more hands-on experience with nitrous oxide/oxygen inhalation and less hands-on experience with aversive techniques and sedation. Conclusions The majority of dental schools do not have a formal competency in BG of the child patient. Compared with 2004, nitrous oxide/oxygen is used more by dental students and there is less predoctoral education in aversive BG techniques.