Assessment of dental anxiety in adults undergoing dental procedures in Dow International Dental College :A cross-sectional study

Objectives: (1)To explore dental anxiety among patients presenting for different dental procedures using Modified Dental Anxiety Scale by Corah.(2)To assess the relationship between dental anxiety score with Gender ,Age, education and occupation.
Methods: Analytical cross-sectional study was conducted in Dow International Dental College from December 2015 to February 2016. Sample size was calculated as 386. Consented individuals of both genders of all race, socio-economic status with the seeking dental treatment at Dow International dental college for one of the following procedures like: root canal, crown preparation, scaling and polishing and tooth extractions were included. Whereas, non-consenting and non co-operative patients, elderly patients over age of 60 and patient’s with anxiety disorders or taking anti-depressants were excluded. Ethical clearance was obtained from Institutional Review Board of Dow University Of Health Sciences. Self administered questionnaire based on Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) by Corah . SPSS v.16 was used for statistical analysis. Frequency distribution was obtained and Chi-square test was also applied. P-value is set as 0.05
Results: A total of 386 (165 males and 221 females) participants were included in this study. The age of participants were between 18-60 years with mean age 35(±1.31). In this study 31(8%) participants were anxious i.e. 5(3%) males and 26(11.85%) females whereas 355(92.0%) were non-anxious i.e. 160(97%) males and 195(88.2%) females. Mean anxiety score was reported as 10(±4). .There was a statistically significant association found between dental anxiety and variables like gender (p-value=0.002), level of education (p-value=0.005) and type of dental procedure (p-value 0.02).
Conclusions: In current study Dental anxiety was found associated with factors like gender, marital status, level of education, dental procedure, oral status, frequency of brushing. Current study suggests that the occurrence of anxiety is low in patients presenting to Dow International Dental College presenting for dental check-ups showing positive impact of oral health related activities in Dow International Dental College. It also highlights the fact that Anxiety reduction protocol and counseling strategies are an integral part of treatment at Dow International Dental College.