Objective: This study investigated the influence of dentist's gender and clothing style on children's anxiety and perceptions of dental care. Material and Methods: The sample consisted of 328 children aged 3-12 years, categorized into 3 age groups: 3-6, 7-9, and 10-12 years. Participants viewed standardized photographs of male and female dentists wearing 6 different clothing styles: white coats, colored scrubs, patterned scrubs, formal attire, casual attire, and protective equipment. Following the image presentation, children indicated their gender and attire preferences for dentists. Dental anxiety was evaluated using the Facial Image Scale. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics and chi-square tests with IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0. Results: Overall, 48.32% of participants preferred female dentists, 17.43% preferred male dentists, and 34.25% reported no preference. Gender preference was significantly associated with the child's gender (p<0.05); most girls (62.5%) favored female dentists, whereas most boys (42.5%) had no preference. Among attire choices, patterned scrubs were most popular for female dentists (31.48%) and colored scrubs for male dentists (24%), while protective equipment was the least preferred. Children aged 7-9 years exhibited significantly lower anxiety scores compared to other age groups (p=0.025). Conclusion: Dentist gender and attire play a significant role in shaping children's comfort and perceptions during dental visits. Childfriendly clothing, particularly patterned scrubs, appears to reduce anxiety and foster a more positive dental experience, emphasizing the importance of considering appearance and gender preferences in pediatric dental care.
AVCI et al. (Thu,) studied this question.