Assessment of Dental Anxiety in Adults Undergoing Dental Procedures in Dow International Dental College

Abstract

Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess anxiety level in patients seeking dental treatment in Dow International Dental College and its relationship with social factors, demographic factors and according to dental procedures using Modified Dental Anxiety Scale by Corah. Methodology: Analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in Dental OPD of Dow International Dental College for 3 months, from December 2015 to February 2016. Sample size was calculated as 386. Consented individuals of both genders of all race, socio-economic status with the seeking dental treatment in this college were included. Self administered questionnaire based on Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) by Corah was used. SPSS v.19 was used for statistical analysis. Results: A total of 386 (165 males and 221 females) participants were included. In this study 31(8%) participants were anxious whereas 355(92.0%) were non-anxious. Mean anxiety score was reported as 10(±4) which indicates a low level of anxiety. There was a statistically significant association found between dental anxiety and variables like gender (p-value=0.002), level of education (p-value=0.005) and type of dental procedures like oral diagnosis, restorative procedures, scaling, polishing, oral surgery and prosthetic treatment (p-value 0.02). An insignificant association was seen between dental anxiety and variables like age (p-value=0.652) and occupation (pvalue= 0.214). Conclusion: Current study suggests that the occurrence of anxiety is low in patients presenting to DIDCpresenting for dental check-ups.

Keywords

• dental anxiety
• modified dental anxiety scale