Dental Anxiety, an Ignored aspect from Dentist

Objectives: The objectives are to assess various levels of anxiety in various conditions, To assess any anxiety level in accordance with invasive procedures, Any associated factor leading to higher anxiety levels
Methods: A quantitative, piloted study was conducted on 300 patients visiting general out-patient and Clinical Departments at Fatima Memorial Hospital College of Dentistry, Lahore from June to August 2014. A structured, standardized and validated questionnaire was used for the purpose of data collection (Modified Dental Anxiety Scale by Corah). Informed consent was obtained from patients
Results: In this study, Anxiety level is categorized from extremely anxious, fairly anxious, very anxious, anxious and not anxious. Extreme anxiety level was found more in younger age group (20.4%) than in elderly age group 55 years and above (7.4%)(P=0.021). Extreme anxiety developed from local anaesthesia injections was more prevalent in females (23.6%) than in males (4.3%). High anxiety level is more prevalent in more invasive procedures, sitting in waiting area (2.0%), Dentist treatment next day (2.7%), tooth drilled (4.7%), Scaling & polishing (3.7%), Local Anaesthesia (14.7%). In all samples, least anxiety provoking procedure was scaling and polishing (39.3%) and highly anxious treatment was placement of Local Anaesthesia injections (14.7%).
Conclusions: It is important for dentist to focus on patient anxiety level and comfort in order to carry out smooth dental treatment. More psychological behavior management skills be practiced in dentistry to overcome anxiety among them.