Dental fear and anxiety among orthodontic patients - a Pakistani sample

ABSTRACT

Objective of this study was to determine the frequency of anxiety levels among orthodontic patients using Norman Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale, [DAS] and its correlation with gender, age and education of patient. It was a cross sectional study. The study was carried out at Orthodontics Department, Armed Forces Institute of Dentistry [AFID], Rawalpindi from October 2014 to January 2015. A self-reported assessment scale developed by N. Corah, Dental Anxiety Scale [DAS] was used in the study. It was used in the form of a questionnaire containing data on gender, age, education. A total of 350 questionnaires were distributed among consented participants and finally valid 233 questionnaires were recruited in the study. Out of 233 patients, 69 [30%] were male and 164 [70%] were females. 46% participants had mild anxiety score, whereas only 4% participants experienced severe anxiety. With higher education level of patient lesser anxiety score was reported in this study [p= 0.015]. Results showed that patients with higher education were significantly less dentally anxious [p<0.01] about orthodontic treatments than patients with lesser education. Demographic characteristics such as gender and age of the patient had statistically no significant effect on DAS