title: Reliability and validity of the Serbian version of Children's Dental Fear Questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Dental anxiety leads to avoidance of dental treatment and could lead to impaired oral health. The aim of this study was to determine the reliability of the Serbian version of Children's Fear Survey Schedule Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) and the relations between dental anxiety and oral health status in a sample of Serbian schoolchildren.
  
  
  METHODS
  The CFSS-DS scale was translated into Serbian and administered to 231 (12-year old) patients of the Pediatric Dental Department, Public Health Center Čukarica, Belgrade. The number of healthy, decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT score) in children was determined by a clinical exam.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average CFSS-DS score was 26.47 ± 10.33. The girls reported higher anxiety than the boys (p < 0.05). Most common fears were drilling, choking, going to the hospital and anesthesia. Lower CFSS-DS scores were recorded in children with all healthy teeth (p < 0.05). Children with higher CFSS-DS scores mostly visit the dentist due to pain or parental insistence, and those with lower anxiety scores more often visited dentist due to regular check-ups or non-invasive treatments (p < 0.01). A high value of the Cronbach's coefficient of internal consistency (α = 0.88) was found in the entire scale.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The Serbian version of CFSS-DS questionnaire is reliable and valid psychometric instrument for evaluation of dental fear in Serbian children. Dental anxiety negatively affects dental attendance and oral health of the examined schoolchildren.
authors.forename: Maja
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lalić
authors.forename: Ema
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aleksić
authors.forename: Jasmina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Milić
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Malešević
authors.forename: Bojan
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jovičić
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior; D016854:Dental Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009909:Oral Health; D009910:Oral Hygiene; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D055771:Serbia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires