Dental fear among medical and dental undergraduates.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the prevalence and level of dental fear among health related undergraduates and to identify factors causing such fear using Kleinknecht's Dental Fear Survey (DFS) questionnaire.


METHODS
Kleinknecht's DFS questionnaire was used to assess dental fear and anxiety among the entire enrollment of the medical and dental undergraduates' of the University of Malaya.


RESULTS
Overall response rate was 82.2%. Dental students reported higher prevalence of dental fear (96.0% versus 90.4%). However, most of the fear encountered among dental students was in the low fear category as compared to their medical counterpart (69.2 versus 51.2%). Significantly more medical students cancelled dental appointment due to fear compared to dental students (P = 0.004). "Heart beats faster" and "muscle being tensed" were the top two physiological responses experienced by the respondents. "Drill" and "anesthetic needle" were the most fear provoking objects among respondents of both faculties.


CONCLUSIONS
Dental fear and anxiety are a common problem encountered among medical and dental undergraduates who represent future health care professionals. Also, high level of dental fear and anxiety leads to the avoidance of the dental services.
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Malaysia ; Department of Oral Health & Clinical Prevention, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
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Hakim
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Malaysia.
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Razak
D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D003729:Dental Care / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009339:Needles; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000523:psychology*; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult