title: Do dental anxiety questionnaires raise anxiety in dentally anxious adult patients? A two-wave panel study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test whether or not dentally anxious patients attending the dentist for an appointment become more anxious when completing a dental anxiety questionnaire.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were initially screened to include only those who were dentally anxious. A pre- and post-test was planned with the completion of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) questionnaire as the intervention.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two dental access centres in the North West of England.
  
  
  METHODS
  Initially, 583 patients were screened. Of these, 182 (31%) were found to be dentally anxious and were recruited into the study.
  
  
  METHODS
  State-Trait Anxiety Inventory Scale Short Form.
  
  
  RESULTS
  State anxiety did not change with the completion of the MDAS questionnaire in either designated dental phobics (MDAS >or=19) or those classified as non-phobics (MDAS <19).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The MDAS can be used to assess dental anxiety without raising anxiety in patients with or without self-reported dental phobia.
authors.affiliation: The Bute Medical School, University of St Andrews, Fife, UK. gerry.humphris@st-andrews.ac.uk
authors.forename: Gerry M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Humphris
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hull
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory; D018881:Suburban Health; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014504:Urban Health