Dental fear association between mothers and adolescents—a longitudinal study

Abstract

Aim To assess the longitudinal association between adolescents’ and their mothers’ dental fear. Study Design A longitudinal questionnaire survey study. Methods A randomized sample of 12-year-old adolescents were selected from local Hong Kong schools. Adolescents and their mothers self-completed the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). The sociodemographic background of the mothers and the oral health habits of the adolescents were also collected and these measurements were repeated at 15- and 18-years-old. Non-parametric tests (Mann–Whitney U test/Kruskall Wallis test) were used to test associations between MDAS dental fear items and independent variables. Logistic regression (adjusted for family’s sociodemographic background and adolescent’s oral health habits) was performed to evaluate the longitudinal association between adolescents’ and mothers’ dental fear. Results A total of 212 mother-child pairs were recruited at baseline (12-year-old adolescents). In the first and second follow-ups (15- and 18-years-old), 195 and 182 mother-child pairs completed the survey. Significant associations between mother’s and child’s scores in “feeling about having their teeth scraped and polished”, “having teeth drilled”, and ‘having an injection in the gum’ were found when adolescents were 12- years-old (P < 0.01) and 18-years-old (P < 0.05), but not at 15-years-old. Conclusion Adolescents’ and mothers’ dental fear is associated at 12-years-old and 18-years-old, but not at 15-years-old, which is likely specific to the Hong Kong context but may be extrapolated to other industrialized countries with caution.

Modelling health belief predictors of oral health and dental anxiety among adolescents based on the Health Belief Model: a cross-sectional study

“…Additionally, multifaceted socio-economical and psychosocial aspects are involved in the onset of dental anxiety [1]. Psychological factors such as personality traits or attachment patterns are also important in the development and persistence of dental anxiety [5,6].…”

Evaluation of parental dental fear and anxiety (DFA) on adolescent dental treatment: A narrative review

“…Thus, 12 articles were considered for this review that met the final inclusion criteria. Of 12 articles reviewed, 8 studies[ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 ] used validated assessment scales as mentioned by authors for measuring parental DFA. The authors have not specified the validation of assessment scales used for the other four studies.…”

Modelling health belief predictors of oral health and dental anxiety among adolescents based on the Health Belief Model: a cross-sectional study

“…Additionally, multifaceted socio-economical and psychosocial aspects are involved in the onset of dental anxiety [ 1 ]. Psychological factors such as personality traits or attachment patterns are also important in the development and persistence of dental anxiety [ 5 , 6 ]. Children with low psychological functioning tend to have higher levels of dental anxiety and increased social problems [ 5 ].…”