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Little is known about changes in dental anxiety with ageing and their association with changes in oral health. This study examined the relationship between changes in dental caries experience and dental anxiety from 15 to 18 years of age among adolescent participants in the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study. Dental anxiety was estimated using the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), and individuals with a DAS score of 13+ were identified as being dentally anxious. Dental examinations were performed on 649 individuals at ages 15 and 18, and a DMFS score was computed for each. Caries prevalence among those who were dentally anxious at both 15 and 18 years was significantly higher than for those who were not at either age. Regression analysis revealed that dental anxiety predicted caries incidence between ages 15 and 18 years. Dental anxiety is likely to be a significant predictor of dental caries experience, and may be a risk factor for dental caries incidence.

Visually mediated processes including, exposure to print (e.g. reading) as well as orthographic transcription and coding skills, have been found to contribute to individual differences in literacy development. The current study examined the role of visuospatial working memory (WM) in underpinning this relationship and emergent writing. One hundred and forty-three children in their first year of the UK educational system participated. Hierarchical regressions revealed that visuo-spatial WM predicted a unique proportion of the variance in spelling and independent text writing ability after nonverbal cognitive ability, phonological WM, visual perceptual processing and orthographic transcription skills had been taken into account. Further, they also revealed for the spelling of individual words the unique contribution made by short-term memory retention of the orthographic structure of those words is particularly important. This contrasted with the unique contribution of short-term visuo-spatial coding of novel and unfamiliar visual stimuli for the development of independent writing skills

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