title: Assessment of dental fear and anxiety levels in eating disorder patients undergoing minor oral surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of the present study was to evaluate the levels of dental fear and anxiety in women with eating disorders (EDs) scheduled for oral surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 61 patients with EDs, an identical number of age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls, and 2 consecutive, randomly selected, clinical and nonclinical samples each consisting of 220 female subjects were included in the present study. The participants completed the demographic and clinical forms, as well as the modified dental anxiety scale (MDAS) and dental fear survey (DFS) before the surgical procedure.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean scores of the MDAS and DFS for the study population correlated negatively with age and positively with a previous unpleasant experience related to dentistry (P < .01 for both). Patients with EDs had significantly greater mean scores on the MDAS than the clinical and nonclinical groups (P < .05 for both). Their mean scores on the DFS were significantly greater than those for the nonclinical participants (P < .05). A significant difference was found in the DFS subscale "fear of specific situations and stimuli" compared with the healthy matched controls and clinical and nonclinical subjects (P < .05 for all).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of our study have shown that patients with EDs can be more sensitive to the auditory, visual, and contact stimuli of the oral surgery procedures under local anesthesia. They also had greater levels of dental fear and anxiety than routine clinical patients and randomly selected subjects from a nonclinical environment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral Surgery, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey. ysirin@istanbul.edu.tr
authors.forename: Yigit
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sirin
authors.forename: Basak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yucel
authors.forename: Deniz
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Firat
authors.forename: Sevinc
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Husseinova-Sen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000556:Ambulatory Surgical Procedures / Q000523:psychology; D000766:Anesthesia, Dental; D000772:Anesthesia, Local; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology; D001047:Apicoectomy / Q000523:psychology; D001294:Attitude to Health; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000145:classification / Q000523:psychology*; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology; D003758:Dental Implantation, Endosseous / Q000523:psychology; D004522:Educational Status; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007182:Income; D017533:Marital Status; D013511:Minor Surgical Procedures / Q000523:psychology; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014081:Tooth Extraction / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult