title: Predicting anxiety during dental treatment using patients'self-reports: less is more.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Self-reported dental fear measures seldom are used in clinical practice to assess patients' fears. This study examined how well dental fear measures predicted anxious behaviors displayed during dental treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred eight adult patients (54 percent female) in a periodontology clinic completed several paper-and-pencil demographic, dental fear and general anxiety measures before treatment. Dental practitioners, blinded to their patients' responses, rated their patients' anxiety during treatment on a series of 100-millimeter visual analog scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Higher Dental Fear Survey scores, younger age, more invasive treatment type and previous avoidance of dental care because of a bad experience all were predictive of greater observed anxiety. Neither self-reported nor observed anxiety was affected by previous experience with a particular practitioner or treatment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dentists may assess patients' anxiety quickly and accurately with the Dental Fear Survey or a similar measure, as well as by asking patients about their current dental attendance and previous dental experiences.
authors.affiliation: University of Washington, Department of Dental Public Health Sciences, Seattle, WA 98195-7475, USA. lheaton@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Lisa J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Heaton
authors.forename: Charles R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Carlson
authors.forename: Timothy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.forename: Ruth A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Baer
authors.forename: Reny
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: de Leeuw
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003812:Dentist-Patient Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D008347:Manifest Anxiety Scale; D008875:Middle Aged; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012737:Sex Factors