Efectividad de las técnicas de manejo conductual en odontopediatría. Revisión sistemática

Aim: to conduct a systematic review of the effectiveness of behavior management techniques in systemically healthy children, in the Pediatric Dentistry office. Methods: Descriptive, retrospective, observational studies and randomized controlled clinical trials that evaluated the effectiveness of the techniques in children and teenangers aged 03 to 18 years. Results: The inclusion criteria were articles in English and Spanish, published from 2014 to 2019. The analysis of the methodological quality of the studies was carried out using the Strobe and Consort guide. English search terms were identified in the MeSH thesaurus in the Pub¬M / Medline, Scopus / Elsevier database, and in Spanish, descriptors of Health Sciences (DeCS / BIREME) were used in the SciELO.org database, Redalyc.org, Latindex, Dialnet and Google Scholar. There was homogeneity in the studies regarding the selection of scales to measure anxiety and fear in children when receiving preventive, curative or restorative treatment. The studies mostly evaluated distraction techniques applied with audiovisual resources to determine their effectiveness on the behavior of children in the dentistry office. They also reported decreased anxiety and fear, after the application of distraction techniques, and reported that there were behavioral changes from anxious and negative patients to positive and collaborative patients. Conclusions: The studies showed insufficient quality in their designs, which did not allow judgments regarding the strength and strength of the evidence on the effectiveness of the techniques applied.   Key words: Effectiveness, techniques, Behavior, Child, Pediatric Dentistry