Symptoms, Clinical Characteristics and Consequences

Treatment of Dental Anxiety and Phobia—Diagnostic Criteria and Conceptual Model of Behavioural Treatment

“…In our experience, psychologists are the preferred caregivers for treatment using CBT in patients with severe dental anxiety/phobia due to their expertise in theory-based psychological interventions and in the assessment and conceptual understanding of behaviour problems and mental distress from a psychological perspective. Dental anxiety is still a major problem affecting a substantial number of individuals and is related to impaired oral health and poor oral health-related quality of life [ 17 , 19 ]. Effective evidence-based treatments exist and should be provided in interdisciplinary collaboration within the dental setting to improve oral health and oral health-related quality of life in the population.…”

“…Even if the prevalence appears to have declined over several decades, one in every ten adults has dental anxiety [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Studies have shown a clear and significant association between dental anxiety and concomitant problems, such as irregular dental visiting habits, poor oral health, and low oral health-related quality of life [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 ].…”

Two-Year Trajectories of Dental Anxiety in Parents and Their Association with Parents’ and Children’s Oral Healthcare Procedures in FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study

“…Dental anxiety, often used interchangeably with dental fear, consists of different emotional, cognitive, behavioral or physical signs and symptoms related to oral healthcare, and it appears in a continuum from fearlessness to specific phobia [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Dental anxiety can lead to a vicious cycle including the avoidance of oral healthcare, deteriorating oral health and feelings of shame, and it can be transferred from parents to their children, for example, by vicarious learning [ 1 , 2 , 3 ].…”

“…Dental anxiety, often used interchangeably with dental fear, consists of different emotional, cognitive, behavioral or physical signs and symptoms related to oral healthcare, and it appears in a continuum from fearlessness to specific phobia [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Dental anxiety can lead to a vicious cycle including the avoidance of oral healthcare, deteriorating oral health and feelings of shame, and it can be transferred from parents to their children, for example, by vicarious learning [ 1 , 2 , 3 ]. Two components of dental anxiety, anticipatory anxiety and treatment-related anxiety, have been reported, and they seem to capture dental anxiety originating from different sources, referred to as exogenous (external sources such as direct or indirect vicarious experiences) and endogenous (internal sources such as temperament or vulnerability to psychological disorders) [ 1 , 4 , 5 ].…”

Evaluating the validity of the Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF‐4C+) in adults with severe dental anxiety

“…A gradient relationship has been shown between dental anxiety and its consequences, where higher levels of dental anxiety indicate poorer oral health and oral health‐related quality of life (9–11). The terms dental fear, dental anxiety and dental phobia are often used synonymously (12). Although fear and anxiety often appear together, the fear response is triggered when facing a feared stimulus, and involves strong fight/flight responses with physical reactions, while anxiety also includes a clear cognitive component with apprehension of a threat in the future (13).…”