title: Dental anxiety among patients prior to different dental treatments.
abstract: The purpose of the present study was to evaluate dental anxiety among patients anticipating various dental treatments. One hundred and eighty patients who were scheduled for specific dental treatments at the School of Dental Medicine, the Hebrew University--Hadassah, Jerusalem, Israel participated in the study. Patients were anticipating one of the following dental procedures: scaling, filling, root canal therapy, preparation for crown, periodontal surgery or extraction. For each of the six dental treatments, 30 patients were selected at random. Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) questionnaires were completed by the patients while waiting for their treatments. The results indicated that extraction caused the highest score, followed by scaling (though not significantly). Patients in the 35 to 49 year age group showed the highest total DAS scores. Women demonstrated higher total DAS scores than men. The relative influence of gender, type of treatment and age on the anxiety scores is demonstrated by using logistic regression, which revealed gender to have the strongest impact on the DAS scores, followed by the type of treatment and age.
authors.affiliation: Department of Community Dentistry, Hebrew University Hadassah, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Jerusalem, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stabholz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Peretz
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003442:Crowns / Q000523:psychology; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003729:Dental Care / Q000145:classification* / Q000523:psychology; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000523:psychology; D012534:Dental Scaling / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D010510:Periodontal Diseases / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D012390:Root Canal Therapy / Q000523:psychology; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000523:psychology; D019231:Tooth Preparation, Prosthodontic / Q000523:psychology