Gender, sociocultural differences, and previous bad experiences linked to dental anxiety.
Some patients develop a psychological condition called treatment anxiety during dental procedures. This may hinder the compliance of the patient and might be predictive of the occurrence of complications during clinical procedure and response to therapy from likely complications during clinical procedures to the response to therapy.
According to a new study gender, sociocultural differences, and previous bad experiences are linked to dental anxiety.Sociocultural structure and gender are the significantly effective factors in dental anxiety and fear.
The study has been published in the Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice
A study was conducted to compare dental anxiety and fear during procedures performed under local anaesthesia either in the operating room or in the clinic as well as to investigate the potential factors that might influence this psychological condition.
Patients who were admitted to the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery of the universities in two cities, which have a different sociocultural patient profiles, were enrolled. In addition to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), and Dental Fear Scale (DFS), the patients were asked to answer the questions concerning previous dental experience, education level, and previous psychiatric therapy.
Results:
Two hundred patients, of whom 76 were enrolled in the first centre and 124 were enrolled in the second centre.
A statistically significant difference was observed in the state anxiety levels of the patients between the two centres, whereas the difference in trait anxiety levels was not significant.
The results of DAS, DFS, and STAI-trait (STAI-T) displayed a significant difference between genders; the levels of anxiety and fear were higher in females than in males (DAS P = 0.025, DFS P = 0.017, STAI-T P = 0.045).
Comparison between the patients with and without previous dental experience revealed a statistically significant difference in the results of STAI.
Thus, the study found that sociocultural structure and gender are the significantly effective factors in dental anxiety and fear.
Reference:
Factors affecting anxiety-fear of surgical procedures in dentistry by C.N. Eroğlu et al. published in the Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice.
DOI: 10.4103/1119-3077.181371
