Assessment of Dental Anxiety in Adults Undergoing Dental Procedures in Dow International Dental College
Keywords:
Dental anxiety, modified dental anxiety scaleAbstract
Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess anxiety level in patients seeking dental treatment in Dow International Dental College and its relationship with social factors, demographic factors and according to dental procedures using Modified Dental Anxiety Scale by Corah.
Methodology: Analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in Dental OPD of Dow International Dental College for 3 months, from December 2015 to February 2016. Sample size was calculated as 386. Consented individuals of both genders of all race, socio-economic status with the seeking dental treatment in this college were included. Self administered questionnaire based on Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) by Corah was used. SPSS v.19 was used for statistical analysis.
Results: A total of 386 (165 males and 221 females) participants were included. In this study 31(8%) participants were anxious whereas 355(92.0%) were non-anxious. Mean anxiety score was reported as 10(±4) which indicates a low level of anxiety. There was a statistically significant association found between dental anxiety and variables like gender (p-value=0.002), level of education (p-value=0.005) and type of dental procedures like oral diagnosis, restorative procedures, scaling, polishing, oral surgery and prosthetic treatment (p-value 0.02). An insignificant association was seen between dental anxiety and variables like age (p-value=0.652) and occupation (pvalue=0.214).
Conclusion: Current study suggests that the occurrence of anxiety is low in patients presenting to DIDC presenting for dental check-ups.
Downloads
References
Ogle OE, Hertz MB. Anxiety control in the dental patient. Dental Clinics of North America 2012 ;56:1-6.
Milgrom P, Newton JT, Boyle C, Heaton LJ, Donaldson N. The effects of dental anxiety and irregular attendance on referral for dental
treatment under sedation within the National Health Service in London. Community dentistry and oral epidemiology. 2010 ;38:453-9.
Humphris GM, Morrison T, Lindsay SJ. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale: validation and United Kingdom norms. Community dental
health. 1995;12:143-50.
Milgrom P, Weinstein P. Dental fears in general practice: new guidelines for assessment and treatment. International Dental Journal. 1993 ;43:288-93.
Coulthard P, Bridgman CM, Gough L, Longman L, Pretty IA, Jenner T. Estimating the need for dental sedation. 1. The Indicator
of Sedation Need (IOSN)–a novel assessment tool. British dental journal. 2011 ;211(5):10-.
Weiner AA. Dental anxiety: differentiation, identification and behavioral management. Journal (Canadian Dental Association). 1992
;58:580-3.
Corah NL, Gale EN, Illig SJ. Psychological stress reduction during dental procedures. Journal of Dental Research. 1979
;58:1347-51.
Newton JT, Buck DJ. Anxiety and pain measures in dentistry: a guide to their quality and application.
The Journal of the American Dental Association. 2000;131:1449-57.
Buchanan H. Acquisition and measurement of dental anxiety: a summary paper. Soc Sci Dent.
;2:10-6.
Heaton LJ, Carlson CR, Smith TA, Baer RA, de Leeuw R. Predicting anxiety during dental treatment using patients' self-reports: less is
more. The Journal of the American Dental
Association. 2007;138:188-95.
Humphris GM, Morrison T, Lindsay SJ. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale: validation and United Kingdom norms. Community dental
health. 1995;12:143-50.
Stabholz A, Peretz B. Dental anxiety among patients prior to different dental treatments. International dental journal. 1999 ;49:90-4.
Malvania EA, Ajithkrishnan CG. Prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of dental anxiety among a group of adult patients
attending a dental institution in Vadodara city, Gujarat, India. Indian Journal of Dental Research. 2011;22:179.
Udoye CI, Oginni AO, Oginni FO. Dental anxiety among patients undergoing various dental treatments in a Nigerian teaching hospital. J Contemp Dent Pract. 2005 15;6:91-8.
Morse Z. Dental anxiety is very high in the Republic of Kiribati. South Pac Stud. 2007;28:23-30.
Buchanan H. Acquisition and measurement of dental anxiety: a summary paper. Soc Sci Dent. 2012;2:10-6.
Newton T, Asimakopoulou K, Daly B, Scambler S, Scott S. The management of dental anxiety: time for a sense of proportion?. British
dental journal. 2012;213:271-4.
Settineri S, Tatì F, Fanara G. Gender differences in dental anxiety: is the chair position important. J Contemp Dent Pract. 2005 15;6:1-5.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 Wajiha Anzar, Ashar Afaq, Qaiser Ali Baig
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Articles published in the Journal of Dow University of Health Sciences are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by-nc/4.0/. This license permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium; provided the original work is properly cited and initial publication in this journal. 
