Comparison of Manitoban general and pediatric dentists behaviour guidance technique usage and preference

Objective: To examine differences in the usages and otherwise preferences of behaviour guidance techniques between Manitoban general and pediatric dentists when considering year of graduation, training locations, and source of training. Methods: Surveys using SurveyMonkey were emailed to a random 25% sample of general dentists and all pediatric dentists in Manitoba. The nonparametric test Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney test was performed on all data. Significance levels were considered at alpha <0.05 and at 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: A total of 87 completed responses were collected (72 general dentists, 15 pediatric dentists). Statistically significant differences were found in voice control, oral sedation, tell-show-do, and general anesthesia. Conclusions: In general, there were few statistically significant differences; however, there were some clinically significant findings. Overall, tell-show-do for both groups, oral sedation for general dentists, and nitrous oxide sedation for both groups were found to be the most favoured in their respective categories while protective stabilization and IV sedation were the least favoured in their respective categories.