Title

Comparison of Tell–Show–Do, Tell–Play–Do and app-based modelling techniques in pediatric dental behaviour management

Authors

Dhwani Dilipbhai Thakkar¹, Raju Chepyala², Eeraveni Ranadheer², Jurmi Kothari³, Shenoy Shailesh Ramdas^4,*, Kalisipudi Sandeep⁵ & Pratik Surana⁶

Affiliation

¹Department of Dentistry, Doctor Dental, Connecticut, USA; ²Department of Dental Surgery, Government Medical College & General Hospital, Karimnagar, Telangana, India; ³Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Government Dental College and Hospital, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India; ⁴Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Yenepoya Dental College, Yenepoya University, Mangalore, Karnataka, India; ⁵Department of Pediatric and Preventive Dentistry, Lenora Institute of Dental Sciences, Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India; ⁶Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Maitri College of Dentistry and Research Centre, Durg, Chhattisgarh, India; *Corresponding author

Email

Dhwani Dilipbhai Thakkar - E-mail: dhwanidthakkar@icloud.com; Phone: +91 9099796515
Raju Chepyala - E-mail: rajireddy0808@gmail.com; Phone: +91 8980708185
Eeraveni Ranadheer - E-mail: drranadheer@gmail.com; Phone: +91 8980708185
Jurmi Kothari - E-mail: drjurmikothari@gmail.com; Phone: +91 9327022436
Shenoy Shailesh Ramdas - E-mail: shaileshshenoy@yenepoya.edu.in; Phone +91 9916821253
Kalisipudi Sandeep - E-mail: kalisipudisandeep@gmail.com; Phone; +91 7893613951
Pratik Surana - E-mail: suranadrpratik@gmail.com; Phone: +91 8871310111

Article Type

Research Article

Date

Received May 1, 2026; Revised May 31, 2026; Accepted May 31, 2026, Published May 31, 2026
 

Abstract

Managing dental anxiety in children remains a major challenge in pediatric dentistry, as anxious children often demonstrate poor cooperation during dental procedures. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of Tell–Show–Do (TSD), Tell–Play–Do (TPD), and smartphone app–assisted modelling techniques in reducing anxiety among pediatric patients. Anxiety was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the RMS Pictorial Scale. All groups showed significant reduction in anxiety scores, with the smartphone app–assisted modelling group demonstrating the greatest improvement. Thus, we show that interactive and technology-assisted behaviour management approaches may offer superior anxiety reduction compared to conventional techniques.

Keywords

Dental anxiety, RMS pictorial scale, smart phone app

Citation

Thakkar et al. Bioinformation 22(5): 2975-2979 (2026)

Edited by

P Kangueane

ISSN

0973-2063

Publisher

Biomedical Informatics

License

This is an Open Access article which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. This is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License.