UK population norms for the modified dental anxiety scale with percentile calculator: adult dental health survey 2009 results.

BACKGROUND: A recent UK population survey of oral health included questions to assess dental anxiety to provide mean and prevalence estimates of this important psychological construct. METHODS: A two-stage cluster sample was used for the survey across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The survey took place between October-December 2009, and January-April 2010. All interviewers were trained on survey procedures. Within the 7,233 households sampled there were 13,509 adults who were asked to participate in the survey and 11,382 participated (84%). RESULTS: The scale was reliable and showed some evidence of unidimensionality. Estimated proportion of participants with high dental anxiety (cut-off score = 19) was 11.6%. Percentiles and confidence intervals were presented and can be estimated for individual patients across various age ranges and gender using an on-line tool. CONCLUSIONS: The largest reported data set on the MDAS from a representative UK sample was presented. The scale's psychometrics is supportive for the routine assessment of patient dental anxiety to compare against a number of major demographic groups categorised by age and sex. Practitioners within the UK have a resource to estimate the rarity of a particular patient's level of dental anxiety, with confidence intervals, when using the on-line percentile calculator.

Children's dental anxiety in the United Kingdom in 2003.

BACKGROUND: The prevalence of dental anxiety among a representative sample of children in the UK was determined in the Children's Dental Health survey of 2003. AIMS: This paper is concerned with the extent to which children in the United Kingdom are judged by a parent or carer to be behaviourally affected by dental anxiety and the factors associated with this. METHOD: The information was gathered by self-completion questionnaire distributed to the parents of half of the sample of children who were also clinically examined in the dental survey. RESULTS: Dental anxiety that was sufficient to disrupt dental attendance was reported for around 3-4% of the four age groups surveyed (5, 8, 12 and 15 years of age). Children's dental anxiety was associated with parental dental anxiety; a greater experience of invasive dental treatment and general anaesthetic; receipt of free school meals and social class. CONCLUSIONS: Whilst these findings do not necessarily indicate causal relationships, they do confirm a number of co-factors associated with dental anxiety perhaps most importantly that of anxiety with the experience of general anaesthetic for tooth extractions.

Locally delivered antimicrobials in the management of periodontitis: a critical review of the evidence for their use in practice.

UNLABELLED: Plaque bacteria are the primary initiators of periodontal disease in susceptible persons and therapy is largely based on mechanical bacterial biofilm disruption. Patients' response to periodontal treatment is unpredictable and periodontal stability is not always achieved. Locally delivered antimicrobials (LDAs) may be used as adjuncts to mechanical therapy in treatment of recalcitrant deep (> or = 5mm), active, non-responding sites, providing the patient's oral hygiene is adequate. Their use as a monotherapy cannot be justified. The literature reveals that LDAs are safe and that they achieve statistically significant, yet clinically modest, gains in clinical attachment and reductions in pocket depths. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: It has been suggested that LDAs may improve the clinical outcome in the treatment of recurrent and refractory cases of periodontitis when used as an adjunct to scaling and root surface instrumentation. This paper examines and discusses the evidence.