Prevalence of dental anxiety among dental patients in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Objective:Anxiety towards dental procedures are common difficulties that may be experienced by dental patients all over the world. This study focused on evaluating the dental anxiety frequency and its relationship with age, gender, educational level, and past dental visits among patients attending the outpatient clinics of College of Dentistry, Al Jouf University, Saudi Arabia.Material and Methods:A total of 221 patients, aged 21–50 years were selected for the study. A questionnaire comprising the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) was used to measure the level of dental anxiety. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20.Results:The mean anxiety score of the 221 patients was 11.39 (SD ± 2.7). Independent t-test showed a significant variation between the age groups with regards to their mean overall anxiety score (P < 0.05), which reduced with increasing age. A significant difference was found by independent t-test in the mean total score between male and female groups and regarding previous dental visit (P < 0.05). Regarding education level, there was no significant difference between the groups (P > 0.05).Conclusion:Younger patients, female, and patients with previous unpleasant dental experience were associated with increased MDAS score.Clinical Significance:The present study was done for better patient management and proper treatment plan development for dentally anxious patients.

Psychological distress and anxiety compared amongst dental patients- results of a cross-sectional study in 1549 adults

“…Comparing the categories of the Dental Anxiety Scale to patients at or above and below the age of 46 showed no statistical significance. These findings were strongly in contrast to those of similar studies [10, 12, 21–24] showing a decrease in the prevalence of dental anxiety in older populations compared to younger populations. An explanation could be the classification into only two age groups and a generalization of the words “young” and “old”.…”

Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Diş Hekimliği Fakültesi’ne Başvuran Hastaların Dental Anksiyete Düzeylerinin Değerlendirilmesi

“…2 (% 58,8) ile Fayad ve ark. 30 (% 51,6) tarafından yapılan araştırmalarda bildirilen görülme sıklığı oranlarından daha azdı. Gaafar 31 , Suudi Arabistan'ın Dammam kentindeki yetişkin hastalarda dental anksiyete sıklığını araştırmış ve çalışma örneğindeki dental anksiyete görülme sıklığının % 27 olduğunu bildirmiştir.…”

“…Acharya 10 , Abanto 9 ve Fayad ve ark. 'nın 30 bulgularıyla uyumlu olarak, bizim çalışmamızda da yaş ve dental anksiyete düzeyleri arasında ters bir ilişki olduğu belirlenmiştir. Yaşlı bireyler, genç bireylerden daha az dental anksiyete düzeyine sahiptiler.…”

Dental Fear

“…Phobic anxiety disorder, panic disorder, major depressive disorder, stress, and fear are more 5 common in femalesand may be associated with dental anxiety. 8 Previous studies reveal that dental anxiety fluctuates with sex, age, education and social status. 3 In this study, we analyzed the relation between patients' sociodemographic factors (including age, gender, residence, previous traumatic experience and family history) and MDAS and DCA scores.…”

“…9 Dental anxiety can be attributed to age, gender, academic qualification and socioeconomic status. 3,8 Females as compared to males experiences more dental anxiety 3,4,9,10 and reported to be more common in young adult age group, high school students reported being more fearful. 10 Some studies claim that patients with lower educational background suffer from more anxiety during dental procedures.…”