Preparing for attack and recovering from battle: Understanding child sexual abuse survivors' experiences of dental treatment.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this paper was to explore child sexually abused survivors' experiences of dental treatment in order to obtain a deeper understanding of them as dental patients.

METHODS

Data were drawn from qualitative semi-structured interviews with 16 adult informants recruited from four different Centres against Sexual Abuse in Norway. Data analysis was developed according to the principles of grounded theory suggested by Charmaz.

RESULTS

A conceptual framework was generated, and a core concept was constructed from the informants' reports of their experiences of dental treatment: Preparing for attack and recovering from battle based on four main categories: (a) Expecting danger, (b) Battling anxiety, (c) Reliving abuse and (d) Struggling with the aftermath.

CONCLUSIONS

The analyses increase the understanding of how child sexual abuse survivors prepare before-battle during-and recover after dental treatment. This study revealed child sexual abuse survivors' experiences of extensive anxiety, triggered by sensory stimuli such as sensations, movement, muscles, touch, sight, sound, smell and taste, associated with dental procedures per se, but also sensory stimuli similar to previous traumatic experiences. The findings suggest that child sexual abuse survivors' dental anxiety is primarily trauma-driven and possibly being one of the long-term effects of child sexual abuse. This may be an important contribution to the understanding of CSA survivors and should affect the approach of clinicians treating dental patients with such a history.