Self-Reported Dental Fear among Dental Students and Their Patients

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to compare self-reported dental fear among dental students and patients at a School of Dentistry in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Eighty students ranging in age from 20 to 29 years and 80 patients ranging in age from 18 to 65 years participated in the study. A self-administered pre-tested questionnaire consisting of 13 items was used for data acquisition. The city of Belo Horizonte Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) was employed for socioeconomic classification. The chi-square test and binary and multinomial logistic regression were employed in the statistical analysis, with the significance level set at 0.05. The majority of dental students (76.5%) sought the dentist for the first time for a routine exam, while patients (77.3%) mostly sought a dentist for the treatment of dental pain. Dental fear was more prevalent among the patients (72.5%) than the students (27.5%). A total of 47.1% of the students and 52.9% of the patients reported having had negative dental experiences in childhood. The logistic model revealed an association between dental fear and a pain-related experience (OR: 1.8; 95%CI: 1.3–2.6). Patients were more prone to dental fear (OR: 2.2; 95%CI: 1.0–5.0). Although at different percentages, both students and patients experienced dental fear. Current patient with previous experience of dental pain had more dental fear.

Dental Anxiety among the Students of Public Sector Medical Universities of Karachi

“…This result is also in the agreement of the previous study which show that dental students are less anxious [29].…”

Association between Childhood Dental Experiences and Dental Fear among Dental, Psychology and Mathematics Undergraduates in Brazil

“…Although dental fear was lower among dental students compared with others, they still reported some fear in all the three dimensions. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the future of dental professionals who are afraid of the procedures they perform on their patients [27]. …”

“…Some studies of dental fear have been carried out among undergraduates [7,17,19,26,27]. Jordanian dental students reported lower dental anxiety than those from engineering and medical courses [26].…”

The Level of Anxiety and Pain Perception of Endodontic Patients

“…To potvrđuje i ovo istraživanje. Osobnost i vještina liječnika pokazala se važnijim čimbenikom od spola (9,20). Zanimljivo je da su pacijenti izvijestili o manjem doživljaju boli kad su zahvate obavljali studenti stomatologije.…”

“…This has been confirmed by our study. Personality and skills of the dentist proved to be more important factors than gender (9,20). Interestingly, the patients reported experiencing less pain when procedures were performed by dental students.…”