Dental Anxiety and Pain Expectations in Patients Undergoing Extraction

Objectives: Dental care-related fear and anxiety, including fear of pain, have a documented association with various oral health outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore patient reports of dental anxiety, fear of pain, and pain expectations, and their association with oral health-related quality of life and dental health literacy in patients undergoing tooth extraction and bone grafting.
Methods: Participants included patients scheduled for extraction and bone graft. Prior to the procedure, patients were asked to complete dental anxiety and pain-related questionnaires (Modified Dental Anxiety Scale [MDAS], Fear of Pain-9 [FPQ-9] and Pain Catastrophizing Scale), and to document the worst expected pain after the procedure via Visual Analog Scale 0-100. The Oral Health Impact Profile-14 (OHIP-14) and the Rapid Estimate of Adult Literacy in Dentistry-30 (REALD-30) were also completed. Results are presented as mean±SE and Spearman correlations were computed.
Results: Eleven patients (55±3.8 years 7 females) participated in the study. MDAS, fear of pain and pain catastrophizing scores were 3.7±1, 20.4 ±1.7 and 13±2.4, respectively. Worst expected pain was 26.1±5.7. OHIP-14 was 10.2±2.8 and REALD-30 was 13±1. Fear of pain scores were strongly correlated with pain catastrophizing (r=0.625, p=0.0395).
Conclusions: Within this small sample of patients undergoing extraction and bone grafting, dental anxiety and pain expectation were low and were not correlated with oral health-related quality of life or dental health literacy.