Prevalence of Dental Anxiety and Associated Factors among Indian Children

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the prevalence of dental anxiety and associated factors among 5 to10 years old Indian children. Material and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the sample was composed by 462 children (240 male and 222 female). Questionnaires consisting of dental anxiety scales were distributed to mother-child pair participants. Children fear survey schedule-dental subscale was used to assess child dental anxiety and Corah's dental anxiety scale was used to measure maternal dental anxiety. Age, gender, religion were also recorded to check the correlation of these factors with the child dental anxiety. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. Fisher's exact test and Pearson correlation tests were applied. The level of significance was set at 5%. Results: The cut-off score for CFSS-DS was 36. The prevalence of dental anxiety was 24.5% among 5 to 10 year old children. Although a statistically significant association was found between maternal and child dental anxiety (p=0.000), no significant association existed between age, gender, culture (religion) and child dental anxiety (p>0.05). Conclusion: Prevalence of dental anxiety was high in the Indian child population. Maternal dental anxiety was found to significantly influence the child dental anxiety, as compared to age, gender or the religion.