Assessment of dental anxiety using modified dental anxiety scale among adults with cleft lip and/or palate

Abstract

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate dental anxiety levels among adults with cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) and compare to adults with no orofacial cleft. The study also intended to find out the impact of cleft severity, gender and age on the perceived dental anxiety. Methods: The study was composed of a sample of 70 adult participants who received and completed dental treatments. After sending self-addressed envelopes with consent forms and Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) to 192 potential participants, 35 participants with CL/P (CL/P group) and 35 participants with no CL/P (control group), agreed to participate. Data were analysed using Mann–Whitney U test. A two-tailed P-value 0.05). Female participants recorded higher median anxiety scores than male participants in the CL/P group, and participants with cleft lip had higher median scores than participants with cleft lip and palate. However, these were not statistically significant. Conclusion: The results suggest that CL/P did not affect dental anxiety levels for participants with the CL/P as there were no extreme cases and their results were comparable to a general non-cleft sample.

Keywords

• Adult
• Cleft lip
• Dental anxiety
• Oral health