Study On Dental Anxiety And Correlation Factors In Patients Undergoing Prosthodontic Treatment

Objective:Dental anxiety(DA) is the psychology obstacle of the dental patients in the dental treatment.A pathological form of dental anxiety is also called dental fear,that is,the patients are so anxious of receiving dental treatment that they always avoid dental care. Dental anxiety and subsequent avoidance of dental care and deterioration of oral health pose a significant problem for the dental profession.It is estimated that many adults experience some degree of dental fear,from mild to severe.Therefore a lot of scholars devote themselves to the clinical study of understanding and combating patients' dental anxiety.This study was designed to investigate the distribution of dental anxiety in patients undergoing prosthodontic treatment,and to reveal the correlation between dental anxiety and demographic factors,trait anxiety,oral health impact degree and satisfaction of artificial denture.This survey data may assist to increase the frequency of dental visits and to prompt the corresponding satisfaction.Materials and Methods:123 adult patients(aged 20 through 74 years) undergoing restorative treatment were selected.The patients were asked to complete a self-questionnaire consisting of the Corah's dental anxiety scale(DAS),Self-Rating Anxiety Scale(SAS),Oral Health Impact Profile(OHIP) and questionaire designed by authors.The collected data was analyzed by Software SPSS 11.5.Results:1,The average level of anxiety was 9.05 +/-3.09 according to the DAS of the people(the maximum score = 18,the minimum score = 4),11.4%suffered from dental anxiety.2,There was no correlation between the amount of dental anxiety and the age, education of the subjects and systemic disease.Women were more anxious than men(p＜0.05).There was positive correlation between dental anxiety and trait anxiety.There was negative correlation between dental anxiety and dentistry experience,oral health-related quality of life and satisfaction of artificial denture.3,A fear of pain while receiving dental treatment was given as the main reason for dental anxiety.4,The patients wished mostly for the ideal long-term result about the dental treatment(26.0%),followed by the treatment that was free of pain(20.8%).Conclutions:This study was found a lower prevalence of dental anxiety in patients undergoing prosthodontic treatment than other therapies.However,individual responses varied greatly.Correlation was found between dental anxiety and some factors including of trait anxiety in the patients.It appeared necessary to screen the phobics out of all patients and then offer them adequate therapy.