Method: The two-stage stratified cluster sample (n=8028) represented Finnish adults aged 30+ years. This study included those dentate participants who answered the questions about dental attendance and dental fear and filled out the 21 item version of Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) (n= 5090). The frequency of dental visits was measured with question: “Do you usually go to a dentist?”, reply alternatives “Regularly for check-up” (indicating regular attendance), “Only when I have pain or other problems” and “Never” (indicting irregular attendance). Dental fear was measured with question: “How afraid are you of visiting a dentist?”, reply alternatives: “Very”, “Somewhat“ or “Not at all afraid”. Level of current depressiveness was measured using BDI, total sum score 0-9 indicated “No depressiveness”, 10-18 “Mild depressiveness” and 19-63 “Moderate or severe depressiveness”. Cross-tabulations with chi squared tests and a logistic regression model (adjusted for age, gender and education) were used to evaluate the association of dental attendance with dental fear and depressiveness.
Result: The prevalence of high dental fear among regular and irregular attenders scoring no depressiveness, mild depressiveness, and moderate or severe depressiveness were 5.9% and 13.8% (p<0.001), 6.4% and 16.4% (p<0.001) and 9.8% and 18.9% (p=0.05), respectively. When adjusting for age, gender and education, those with high dental fear (OR 3.1, CI 2.5-3.7, p<0.001) and moderate or severe depressiveness (OR=1.8, CI 1.4-2.2, p<0.001) were more likely to be irregular attenders than those with lower level of dental fear or with no or mild depressiveness were.
Conclusion: Both dental fear and depressiveness seem to increase the risk of irregular dental attendance.