Classification and premedication of uncooperative children.

Forty-three uncooperative children ranging in age from 4-12 yr were pretreated with diazepam, acepromazine or a placebo, depending on their anxiety situations. The results showed that diazepam has a significantly more powerful effect on the successful termination of the dental procedure and on encouraging the cooperation and compliance of patients than acepromazine or placebo. The placebo was also found to be effective for increasing the cooperation of patients with negative anxiety. No significant difference was established between the actions of premedicants on pain reaction and amnesia. In the light of the present findings, it is suggested that drugs with sedative and also anxiolytic effects will be more beneficial for increasing the cooperation of children with mild or high anxiety than drugs with a sedative effect alone.