Effectiveness of Snake and ladder Dental game on Dental anxiety among 6 to 12 Year old children A Randomized controlled trial

Dental fear and anxiety is the most common and potentially distressing problem for both the patient and the dentist. Dental anxiety has been defined as an “abnormal fear or dread of visiting the dentist for preventive care or therapy and unwarranted anxiety over dental procedure. Dental anxiety during the procedure can have unwanted consequences, including uncontrollable behavior, lack of cooperation, and adverse psychological effects on the patients. It is important to control children’s behavior, gain their cooperation, and create a positive attitude about dental treatment. Due to the substantial effect of dental anxiety in pediatric patients, many pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods have been devised to alleviate or eliminate such anxieties of the patients. Due to the fondness for games in children, and also games are one such tool in reducing anxiety in children It has the found to be the most economical way to reduce anxiety in children needing dental treatments. Snake and ladder is an ancient game of India, originating in the Second century BC.  It was originally used by religious teachers to teach children about the vary between good and bad - climbing up the ladders represents good, and sliding down the snakes represents bad. In this Snake and Ladder- Dental game the child will be able to know both “the positive and negative habits “about oral health and also in reducing anxiety. Nowadays in this current era, parents introduce mobiles for distraction reducing anxiety in children and also in a few studies, the dentist uses mobile games for distraction and reducing anxiety.  The usage of smartphones and video games is harmful for children. Hence in this study, we planned to assess the Effectiveness of “Snake & ladder- Dental game”, an indigenous game on Dental anxiety among 6–12-Year-old children before and after dental treatment.