title: Is dental phobia a blood-injection-injury phobia?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dental phobia is part of the Blood-Injection-Injury (B-I-I) phobia subtype of specific phobia within DSM-IV-TR. To investigate the conceptual validity of this classification, the purpose of the present study was to determine the co-occurrence of dental phobia, typical dental (and B-I-I related) fears, vasovagal fainting, and avoidance of dental care.
  
  
  METHODS
  Data were collected by an online survey in Dutch twin families (n = 11,213).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Individuals with a positive screen of dental phobia (0.4% of the sample) rated typical B-I-I-related stimuli as relatively little anxiety provoking (e.g. of all 28 fears the stimulus "the sight of blood" was ranked lowest). Presence of dental phobia was significantly associated with a history of dizziness or fainting during dental treatment (OR = 3.4; 95% CI: 1.5-8.1), but of the dental phobic individuals only 13.0% reported a history of dizziness or fainting during dental treatment. Presence of dental phobia (OR = 5.0; 95% CI: 2.8-8.8) was found to be associated with avoidance of dental care, but a history of dizziness or fainting during dental treatment was not (OR = 1.0; 95% CI: 0.8-1.2).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present findings converge to the conclusion that dental phobia should be considered a specific phobia subtype independent of the B-I-I cluster within the DSM classification system.
authors: Department of Social Dentistry and Behavioural Sciences ACTA, University of Amsterdam and VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors: C M H H
authors: CM
authors: van Houtem
authors: I H A
authors: IH
authors: Aartman
authors: D I
authors: DI
authors: Boomsma
authors: L
authors: L
authors: Ligthart
authors: C M
authors: CM
authors: Visscher
authors: A
authors: A
authors: de Jongh
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001769:Blood; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology*; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D004522:Educational Status; D005239:Fear; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013575:Syncope; D014427:Twins / Q000523:psychology; D014947:Wounds and Injuries / Q000523:psychology
keywords: DSM; blood-injection-injury phobia; dental phobia; specific phobias