BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
IN DENTISTRY
PRESENTED BY:
Mujeeb Bukhari
Roll #50

BEHAVIOR
Behavior is an observable act, which can be described in
similar ways by more than one person. It is defined as
any change in the functioning of an organism. Learning as
related to behavior is a process in which past experience
or practice results in relatively permanent change in an
individual’s behavior.

BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
Behavioral Science is the science of the study of human
behavior at the level of their own self, other individuals,
family and community members, and the resulting reaction
on the dental health programme.

SOCIAL
SCIENCES
SOCIOLO
GY
CULTURA
L
ANTHRO
POLOGY
SOCIAL
PSYCHOL
OGY
ECONOM
ICS
POLITIC
AL
SCIENCE

SOCIOLOGY
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
SOCIAL PSYCOLOGY
Are together called as
‘BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE’

SOCIOLOGY
Sociology is defined as
the study of groups of
individuals which form a
society and how they
interact behave within
themselves and the
outcome of the
interactions.

SOCIOLOGICAL FACTORS GOVERNING DENTAL
HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN COMMUNITY:
Affordability of dental health services:
In order to determine if community can pay directly or
indirectly for the health care services, there is a need
to measure socioeconomic status to which a particular
community belongs.
Recently devised method for the same is above poverty
line (APL) or below poverty line(BPL).
Accessibility to dental health care services:
Dental health care services are not easily available in
villages. Therefore provision of dental care can be
created only if there are roads and better
communications for villagers to reach cities, and the like.
This is called accessibility.

Acceptability of dental health care services:
Even if community based dental health services are
present, the sociological behavior of the people is
important in accepting these services for their own use.
This is called acceptability which is controlled by social
taboos & beliefs which can be changed by promoting
good social belief.
Community participation:
For any community based dental health programme to
remain successful, community members themselves must
participate in the planning, publicity, provision of
facilities for the programme, motivating others &
helping to suggest methods of making programme more
practical and useful.

Sustainability of programme:
Funds are required for programme to sustain forever so
local selfhelp groups in economic activities must be
trained to generate funds for dental programme.

SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
PSYCHOLOGY is defined as the study of human
behavior in terms of how, when, with whom, where and
why they behave the way they do.

PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING BEHAVIOR:
Age and sex
Skills and habits
Intelligence and emotion
Beliefs and culture
Past experience
Behavior during illness
Behavior when healthy
Independent or married
Present environment
Level of interest and motivation
Coping or managing problems
Decision making ability
Self esteem
Expectation of others
Attitude
Emotional level

Scope and uses:
In any dental health programme, it is important to
determine what is normal behavior related to health.
If a behavior is good for young programme, then
promote it further.
If it is harmless then leave it alone
If it is harmful then we may need to change the
behavior to suit a desired health behavior
Psychological behavior is different when an individual is
alone as compared to when he/she is in a group.

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Anthropology is the study of man
and his works
It has two main divisions:
1. Physical anthropology
2. cultural anthropology
Physical anthropology is the study of man as a biological
organism.
Cultural anthropology is the branch dealing with man’s
behavior and product.

Branches of Cultural anthropology are:
1. ETHNOLOGY: The comparative study of cultures.
2. ARCHEOLOGY: The study of past cultures and
civilizations using their remains as the principal
source of informations.
3. LINGUISTICS: The study of patterns of man i.e.
study of language and dialects.
4. SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY: A specific branch of
cultural anthropology dealing with comparative
dealing with comparative study of kinship and non
kinship organization patterns in different societies.

Scopes of anthropology:
1. In terms of physical anthropology, the dimension of
facial structure varies with racial features.
2. With increasing urbanization & its influence on
changing lifestyles, facial appearance has an
increased role to play in communication strategies.
3. Cultural anthropology would be a major challenge for
any form of change in habits and customs, especially
in rural areas and traditional families.
4. Decision making in the use of dental hygienic
measures by the community, becomes an important
component of cultural anthropology.

ECONOMICS
It studies the economic aspects of man i.e. production
distribution and consumption of the three basic
essentials for his living namely food, shelter and
clothing. Scarcity or excess of these are found to
affect human behavior.
POLITICAL SCIENCE
It deals with the constitution, the government and
the laws of the state, which impose some sort of
discipline on man’s movements or behavior.

HEALTH BEHAVIOR AND LIFE
STYLE
Health behavior
“Any activity undertaken by an individual, regardless
of actual or perceived health status, for the purpose
of promoting, protecting or maintaining health,
whether or no such behavior is objectively effective
towards that end.”
-WHO Health Promotion Glossary, 1986

Illness behavior:
It is the interpretation of symptoms or signs of illness,
especially pain and the search for relief. It is a social
process drawing on past experience and involving
interaction with others in denfining a solution to an oral
health problem. This process is called illness behavior.
Labeling behavior:
In the case of conditions that are visible and that
affect the social identity or acceptability of the
person, more complex processes of decision making are
involved. In such instances, both the pressures from
others and the will to accede to such pressures are
much greater. This process of influence and response is
called labelling behavior.

BEHAVIOR OF CHILD IN THE
DENTAL OFFICE
Pedodontic treatment triangle

THEORIES OF CHILD PSYCHOLOGY
Child psychology theories can be broadly classified into:
1. Psychodynamic theories
• Psychosexual theory/ psychoanalytical theory by
Sigmund Freud (1905)
• Psychosocial theory /model of personality
development by Erik Erikson (1963)
• Cognitive theory by Jean Piaget (1952)
2. Theories of learning and development of behavior
• Hierarchy of needs by Maslow (1954)
• Social learning theory by Bandura (1963)
• Classical conditioning by Pavlov (1927)
• Operant conditioning by Skinner (1938)
3. Margaret S Mahler’s theory of development

PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORY
Given by Sigmund Freud.
He proposed a structure called as psychic triad that
essentially has three parts that is:-
1. ID
2. EGO
3. SUPER EGO

ID:-
it is the most primitive part of personality. It is the
basic structure of personality, which serve as a
reservoir of instincts. The ID is the source of all
gratification and pleasure, it represent the
unconscious, instructive urges that motivate behavior.
It can be defined inherited reservoir of unorganized
drive. It is governed by the pleasure- pain principle,
aims of immediate satisfaction of libidinal urges, is
immoral, is illogical and lacks unity of purpose.

EGO:- It is the ego that makes the necessary
interaction with the social world possible and permits
the needs of the ID to be satisfied.
It can be defined as the integrating or mediating
part of personality out of interaction of ID and
environment.
SUPER EGO:- it is that part of personality that is
internalized representation of values and morals of
society as taught by the parents and others.
It act as a conscience, it is the internal part of
the individual that make the value judgment.
Freud believed that many personality disorders
come because a conflict between the EGO and
SUPEREGO.

PHYCHOSOCIAL THEORY
It is given by Erikson
He gave 8 stages of emotional development
1. Basic trust vs. mistrust :- the infant forms the
first trusting relationship with the caregiver and it
occurs uptil one year of age
2. Autonomy vs. shame, doubt:- toddler begins to
push for independence. It occurs between 2-3 years
of age.
3. Initiative vs. guilt :- the child becomes more
assertive, resulting conflict causes guilt. occurs
between 4-5 years of age.

4. Industry versus inferiority:- the child learns basic
cultural and academic skills, it occurs between 7-11
years of age.
5. Identity vs. role confusion:- the child as a teenager
now must realize who he is and what he shall become
characterize by development of personal identity.
Occurs between 12 to 17 years.
6. Intimacy vs. isolation:- the adult realizes the need
for one truly intimate relationship. Occurs in young
adults

7. Generativity vs. stagnation:- the adult rears
children or performs creative act failing which
stagnation occurs. Occurs in adults.
8. Ego integrity vs. despair:- the adult integrates
earlier stages and achieve sense of integrity.
Occurs in late adults greater than 50 years of age.

COGNITIVE THEORY
Given by Jean Piaget(1962)
He formulated his theory on how children and
adolescents think and acquire knowledge.
1. Sensorimotor :- every child is born with certain
strategies for interacting with the environment.
These strategies mark the beginning of thinking
process. The child doesn't yet have the capacity to
represent the object or people to himself mentally.
As the maturation progresses the simple reflexes
begin to be coordinated. Occurs up to 2 years of
age.

4. Formal operational stage:- the child now a teenager
is able to think still more abstractly. The child uses
inductive or deductive logic to make decisions and
solve problem.
3. Concrete operational stage:- the thinking process
become logical. He develops ability to use complex
mental operations. The child is able to understand
others point of view.
2. Preoperational stage:- primitive strategies change
as the child assimilates new experiences and
accommodates original strategies. The child uses
symbols in language and play. He solves problem as a
result of intuitive thinking but cannot explain why.
Occurs between 2-6 years of age

HIERARCHY OF NEEDS MASLOW

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING: PAVLOV

FRANKL et al RATING SCALE
(1962)
RATING BEHAVIOUR
1.Definitely
Negative (--)
2.Negative (-)
3.Positive (+)
4.Definitely
Positive (++)
Refuses treatment, cries forcefully,
extremely negative behavior associated
with fear.
Reluctant to accept treatment and
displays evidence of slight negativism.
Accept treatment, but if the child has
a bad experience during treatment, may
become uncooperative.
Unique behavior, looks forward to and
understands the importance of good
preventive care.

BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT
It is defined as the means by which the dental health
team effectively and efficiently performs dental
treatment and thereby instills a positive dental
attitude. (WRIGHT,1975)
Behavior management can be classified as:
1. Non- Pharmacological
2. Pharmacological

NON-PHARMACOLOGICAL METHODS OF BEHAVIOR
MANAGEMENT:
1. COMMUNICATION
2. BEHAVIOR SHAPING (MODIFICATION)
• DESNSITIZATION
• MODELLING
• CONTINGENCY MANAGEMENT
3. BEHAVIOR MANAGEMENT
• AUDIO ANALGESIA
• BIOFEEDBACK
• VOICE CONTROL
• HYPNOSIS
• HUMOR
• COPING
• RELAXATION
• IMPOLSION THERAPY
• ADVERSE CONDITIONING

PHARMACOLOGICAL METHODS OF BEHAVIOR
MANAGEMENT
1. PREMEDICATION
• SEDATIVES AND HYPNOTICS
• ANTIANXIETY DRUGS
• ANTIHISTAMINES
2. CONSCIOUS SEDATION
3. GENERAL ANESTHESIA

CONCLUSION
Behavioral science plays a major role in
understanding the individual, his community and his
environment. The desire to understand behavior and
help maintain people at an almost perfect state of
oral health rather than wait to treat them after
they have developed oral or dental disease has been
at the forefront of promoting a healthy lifestyle
and modifying habits so as to reach optimal oral
health status.