##submission.abstract##
Introduction: Animal-assisted therapy (AAT) is an alternative or complementary type
of therapy that involves animals as a form of treatment. The goal of AAT is to improve a
patient's social, emotional, or cognitive functioning. AAT involves the interaction
between a patient and a trained animal that has been specially educated in this therapy.
The animals that conduct AAT are called therapy animals which are now-a-days used in
Pediatric dental clinic as an aid to improvechild behaviour.
Aim: To evaluate the acceptance of Dentist, Parents and child to therapy pets, child’s
choice of pet and to analyse attitude of dentist towards animal-assisted therapy in the
paediatric dental set-up as an aid to improve behaviour of the child during the dental
treatment.
Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional survey was conducted among 60
children and their parents and 108 dentist. Chi-square test was used to determine the
association of independent variables with each of the main outcome of interest.
Results: The consent to the presence of pet was given by 56.67% parents
(p=0.0359,Significant) Children who chose dog as their preferred pet were 46.67% those
who chose cat as their preferred pet were 25% (p=0.049, Significant) Almost 76%
Dentist agreed that AAT helps in behaviour management for Pediatric dentist
(p=0.0001,S)
Conclusion: Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT) can prove to be a good behaviour
management technique and can be a part of the exclusive Pediatric dental clinic.
Keywords: Animal-assisted therapy, Pediatric Dentist