Age-specific associations between dental fear and dental condition among adults in Finland.
OBJECTIVE
Our objective was to study whether dental condition, measured by numbers of sound, decayed, missing, and restored teeth, was associated with dental fear, and whether age, dental attendance, and/or gender modified this association.


METHODS
The sample (n=8,028) comprised Finnish adults aged 30 years and older and the study included people (n=6,335) who participated in a home interview and a clinical dental examination. Dental fear was measured by the question: "How afraid are you of visiting a dentist?" Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between dental fear and dental condition variables, i.e. numbers of decayed, missing, sound, and restored teeth considering the effects of age, attendance, and gender.


RESULTS
With the exception of number of restored teeth, all dental condition variables were associated with dental fear. The association between dental fear and number of decayed teeth was positive and was independent of age, gender, and attendance. Age modified the association between dental fear and number of missing and sound teeth. Among the oldest age group, the numbers of missing and sound teeth were positively associated with dental fear while being negatively associated among the youngest age group.


CONCLUSIONS
People with high dental fear have poorer dental condition than those with lower fear. Neither gender nor dental attendance affects the association between dental fear and dental condition. The associations between dental fear and numbers of missing and sound teeth vary according to year of birth.
Pohjola
Vesa
V
Department of Community Dentistry, Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. vesa.pohjola@oulu.fi
Lahti
Satu
S
Vehkalahti
Miira M
MM
Tolvanen
Mimmi
M
Hausen
Hannu
H
D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004245:DMF Index; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology; D003729:Dental Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology; D003793:Dental Restoration, Permanent / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology