Assessing the relative efficacy of cognitive and non‐cognitive factors as predictors of dental anxiety

European J Oral Sciences

2013

Self Cite

Dental fear is related to poorer oral health outcomes, and this might be explained by the less frequent dental visiting of many fearful people. The objectives of this study were to investigate differences between dentally fearful people who regularly attend the dentist and fearful people who infrequently visit the dentist. A random sample of 1,082 Australians ≥ 15 yr of age completed a mailed questionnaire (response rate = 71.6%), and 191 dentate, high-fear adults (≥ 18 yr of age) were selected for further analysis. Dental avoidance was recorded if a person was currently avoiding or delaying dental care and if he/she had not been to a dentist in the previous 2 yr. Among the selected dentally fearful adults, dental avoidance was predicted by smoking status, toothbrushing frequency, coping strategy use, perceptions of dental visits as uncontrollable and unpredictable, and by anxiety relating to numbness, not knowing what the dentist is going to do, and cost. In a multivariate logistic regression model, smoking, toothbrushing, coping, and anxiety about numbness and cost remained as statistically significant predictors, with the model accounting for 30% of the variance. While several variables were associated with dental avoidance among fearful adults, the nature and causal directions of these associations remain to be established.

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 99%

Predicting dental avoidance among dentally fearful Australian adults

European J Oral Sciences

2013

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“…Consistent with this, our study found that cognitive vulnerability and dental expectancies significantly predicted children's dental fear, after controlling for the effects of negative dental experiences. These results support the relevance of cognitive elements in explaining dental fear in the child population, as previous findings from child and adult research have already identified.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

The moderating role of dental expectancies on the relationship between cognitive vulnerability and dental fear in children and adolescents

Carrillo-Díaz

Crego²,

et al. 2012

Comm Dent Oral Epid

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“…Cronbach's α reliability for this scale was 0.76. Previous versions of this scale have been found to have strong associations with dental fear . As presented below, the scale used in this study was also positively correlated with dental fear.…”

Section: Methodssupporting

confidence: 55%

Applying the Cognitive Vulnerability Model to the analysis of cognitive and family influences on children's dental fear

Crego

Carrillo-Díaz

European J Oral Sciences

et al. 2013

Self Cite

Negative experiences, cognitions, and family variables are involved in the etiology of child dental fear, but previous research has frequently considered them separately. This study uses the Cognitive Vulnerability Model to explore the influence of negative dental experiences and family members on children's dental anxiety. The participants were 185 children who completed a questionnaire comprising measures of dental fear and cognitive vulnerability-related perceptions. Measures were obtained for 88 of the participants' fathers and for 97 of the participants' mothers. Cognitive vulnerability perceptions had the strongest association with children's dental fear (β = 0.40), explaining 14-21% of the variance in dental fear scores beyond that explained by other variables. Furthermore, vulnerability perceptions mediated the relationship between negative dental experiences and dental fear. Children's dental fear and cognitive vulnerability perceptions were significantly associated with those of their fathers (r = 0.23 and r = 0.40, respectively) and mothers (r = 0.28 and r = 0.35, respectively). Moreover, fathers' (β = 0.24) and mothers' (β = 0.31) levels of cognitive vulnerability significantly predicted the children's levels of dental fear. The Cognitive Vulnerability Model offers a framework to understand child dental fear. Furthermore, this cognitive approach may help explain why some children develop dental fear problems after suffering a negative dental experience and how dental anxiety is passed on from parents to children.