ABSTRACT
This study aimed to determine the level of dental anxiety before different dental care procedures. A group of 116 adults presenting for the first time at a French dental hospital were included in the study. These patients completed a French-language version of Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale 1 and used a visual analogue scale to score their perception of the level of difficulty generated by 13 different dental treatments. The acts perceived as the most difficult to face were root canal and restorative treatment without local anaesthesia (LA), followed by oral surgery. There was a positive correlation between DAS score and level of difficulty experienced during dental treatment. Healthy subjects declared difficulty in coping with dental care. Dental procedures may be a factor of co morbidity in terms of the psychological status of dental patients. A classification of dental procedures is given according to the level of difficulty generated.
Subject(s)
Attitude to Health , Dental Anxiety/psychology , Dental Care/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Anesthesia, Local/psychology , Crowns/psychology , Dental Anxiety/classification , Dental Care/classification , Dental Impression Technique/psychology , Dental Prophylaxis/psychology , Dental Scaling/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Oral Surgical Procedures/psychology , Radiography, Dental/psychology , Root Canal Therapy/psychology , Sex Factors , Tooth Extraction/psychology , Tooth Preparation, Prosthodontic/psychology , Young AdultABSTRACT
Reactive anxiety of patients was evaluated at clinical stages of orthodontic treatment with polymeric crowns. Antistress therapy essentially decreased the number of patients with high reactive anxiety. Measures to control fear are obligatory before tooth preparation and impression making. At the rest stages it is hardly necessary to focus the dentist's and patient's attention at these measures.
Subject(s)
Crowns/psychology , Dental Anxiety/diagnosis , Orthodontics, Corrective/psychology , Tooth Preparation, Prosthodontic/psychology , Adult , Humans , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
The purpose of the present study was to evaluate dental anxiety among patients anticipating various dental treatments. One hundred and eighty patients who were scheduled for specific dental treatments at the School of Dental Medicine, the Hebrew University--Hadassah, Jerusalem, Israel participated in the study. Patients were anticipating one of the following dental procedures: scaling, filling, root canal therapy, preparation for crown, periodontal surgery or extraction. For each of the six dental treatments, 30 patients were selected at random. Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) questionnaires were completed by the patients while waiting for their treatments. The results indicated that extraction caused the highest score, followed by scaling (though not significantly). Patients in the 35 to 49 year age group showed the highest total DAS scores. Women demonstrated higher total DAS scores than men. The relative influence of gender, type of treatment and age on the anxiety scores is demonstrated by using logistic regression, which revealed gender to have the strongest impact on the DAS scores, followed by the type of treatment and age.
