The aim of this study was to explore the association between negative experiences during children's first dental visit and any subsequent dental anxiety and related factors in three dental clinics in the Veneto Region of Italy. For this purpose, parents of 378 children filled out a questionnaire. Factors related to child dental anxiety (none-some/fairly much-very much) were explored by means of logistic regression analysis. The independent variables were: problems with tht first dental visit (no/yes), parental dental anxiety (none-some/fairly much-very much), number of previous visits (0-3/4 < or =) site visited (public/private) and age of the child (< 10 years/10 < or = years). Parental anxiety was associated with child's anxiety (OR = 2.3, 95% CI = 1.1-4.9). A problematic first visit was a strong predictor of dental anxiety. However, this effect was modified by the number of subsequent visits. Children with 4 or more visits after the first visit were less likely to be anxious after a problematic first visit (OR = 4.6, 95% CI = 1.5-14.1) than children with 3 visits or less after the first visit (OR = 19.8, 95% CI = 7.2-54.5). Thus, the negative effect of a problematic first visit may fade during subsequent dental visits.
We aimed to evaluate (i) changes in dental fear over time during pregnancy and after delivery among mothers and fathers and (ii) whether these changes inter-relate to changes in depression and anxiety. Longitudinal pilot data for the FinnBrain Cohort study were used. Of 254 pregnant families, 80% agreed to participate and 60% returned questionnaires at the first data-collection point. After three data-collection points [weeks 18-20 and 32-34 of pregnancy (H18-20 and H32-34, respectively), and 3 months after childbirth], 99 mothers and 74 fathers had filled out at least two out of three Modified Dental Anxiety Scale questionnaires and were included in this study. Other questionnaires used were the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, the State Trait Anxiety Inventory, and the Pregnancy Related Anxiety Questionnaire. All scales were analyzed as sum scores. Among mothers, dental fear decreased during late pregnancy and increased slightly after childbirth, but no statistically significant correlations between dental fear and depression or anxiety, except for fear of giving birth, were found. Among fathers dental fear increased and was correlated with depression and anxiety. Dental fear seems to fluctuate among women during pregnancy and could be affected by hormonal changes.
Dental fear seems to be more stable in adulthood than in childhood. Thus, it might be better to intervene in dental fear during childhood rather than during adulthood.
The aim of this study was to determine whether parents and their 11-16-yr-old children can evaluate each other's dental fear. At baseline the participants were 11-12-yr-old children from the Finnish Cities of Pori (n = 1,691) and Rauma (n = 807), and one of their parents. The children and their parents were asked if they or their family members were afraid of dental care. Fears were assessed using single 5-point Likert-scale questions that included a 'do not know' option. Children and parents answered the questionnaire independently of each other. Background variables were the child's and their parent's gender. Parents' and children's knowledge of each other's dental fear was evaluated with kappa statistics and with sensitivity and specificity statistics using dichotomized fear variables. All kappa values were < 0.42. When dental fear among children and parents was evaluated, all sensitivities varied between 0.10 and 0.39, and all specificities varied between 0.93 and 0.99. Evaluating dental fear among fearful children and parents, the sensitivities varied between 0.17 and 0.50 and the specificities varied between 0.85 and 0.94, respectively. Parents and children could not recognize each other's dental fear. Therefore, parents and children cannot be used as reliable proxies for determining each other's dental fear.
Objectives
The aim was to confirm the factor structure of Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) and to investigate whether the association of these factors with general anxiety and depression varied across gender.
Methods
The FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study (http://www.finnbrain.fi) data from the first collection point at gestational week 14 were used. Of the invited participants (n = 5790), 3808 (66%) expectant mothers and 2623 fathers or other partners of the mother agreed to participate, and 3095 (81.3%) mothers and 2011 (76.7%) fathers returned the self‐report questionnaire. Dental anxiety was measured with the MDAS, general anxiety symptoms with Symptom Checklist‐90 (anxiety subscale) and depressive symptoms with the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale. Multiple group confirmatory factor analysis (MGCFA) was conducted to test the equivalence of the factor structure and multiple group SEM (MGSEM) to test the configural invariance (unconstrained model) and metric invariance (structural weights model), across genders.
Results
Of those consenting, 3022 (98%) women and 1935 (96%) men answered the MDAS. The MGCFA indicated good convergent validity for the two‐factor model for MDAS, but somewhat low discriminant validity (factors demonstrated 72% shared variance). The MDAS items loaded clearly higher for the assigned factor than to the other factor (differences in loadings >0.2), indicating that the 2‐factor model has merit. According to the final MGSEM model, anxiety symptoms were directly related to anticipatory dental anxiety, but not to treatment‐related dental anxiety.
Conclusions
When assessing dental anxiety with MDAS, considering also its two factors may help clinicians in understanding the nature of patient's dental anxiety.
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