Dental anxiety in a French adult population: a pilot study

Objectives: Dental anxiety limits access to care and thus tends to increase the prevalence of dental disease in anxious patients. This is an obvious public health problem but no epidemiological study has been undertaken in France to evaluate the prevalence of the problem. The objective of this study is to estimate the level of dental anxiety in the French adult population. Methods: A convenience sample of 2725 adults (mean age=47 years, SD±16, mini=16, maxi = 101 years) were asked to complete a French version of the Corah dental anxiety scale (DAS) and a short questionnaire related to their dental appointments. Results: The sample was representative of the French population for age and for urban distribution. Moderate dental anxiety (DAS>13) was revealed for 295 persons (10.8%), while 72 (2.6%) had severe anxiety (DAS>17). This rate decreased proportionally with age (P<0.001) and was more important in French overseas territories and in the countryside (P<0.01). Farmers and low skilled workers were statistically more anxious than executives and shopkeepers (p<0.001). Anxiety increased with avoidance of care (F=4, P<0.001) and decreased with regular dental appointments (F=5, P<0.001). Conclusions: Dental anxiety in France appears to concern a similar proportion of the population as in other industrial European countries or North America. These results need validation using a randomised sample. From the current work it could be estimated that a sample size of 2000 subjects would be necessary for statistically significant results – implying a sample of up to 10,000 subjects given the habitual low response rate in French epidemiological studies (around 30%).