Dental Phobia Among East Malaysian Adolescents

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence and level of dental fear or phobia, the specific fear provoking stimuli and, avoidance behavior among the respondents. METHODS: Validated and pretested self-administered questionnaires were distributed to a convenient sample of 545 students in a matriculation college. Information sought were the respondents' demographic data, level of dental fear, specific fear provoking stimuli and their avoidance and coping behavior. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 16. RESULTS: A total of 527 (96.7%) sample respondents responded. The prevalence of dental fear was high (85.1%) with most subjects (53.1%) reported experiencing severe level of anxiety. More than half of the respondents (52.8%) reported that injection was the most fear provoking stimuli, followed by sound of vibration of the drill (48.5%), and fear of being injured (47.8%). When encountering problems such as toothache, nearly half of the respondents (49.9%) reported that they will let the pain go off by itself without taking any action. Half of the respondents (50.1%) reported that they would only visit dentists when they experienced extreme toothache. However, most of the respondents (64.1%) never failed to attend any appointments that had been made. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, dental phobia was a common problem among adolescents contributing to the avoidance of dental care.