Comparing oral health in patients with different levels of dental anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Dental Anxiety is still today one of the most common fears and is therefore a great challenge for every dental practitioner. The aim of this study was to identify patients with dental anxiety using the Dental Anxiety Scale and comparing different levels of dental anxiety with oral health using DMF-T and DMF-S index.

METHODS: This study questioned 1549 patients over the course of three years (2002-2005). DAS questionnaires were handed out before treatment and the state of oral health was evaluated using DMF-T and DMF-S.

RESULTS: There is no significant relation between high anxiety and the global DMF-T Score (p = 0.237), missing teeth (p = 0.034) and filled teeth (p = 0.237). There is however a significant increase in destroyed teeth, the higher the level of dental anxiety in the patient (p < 0.0001). There is as well a significant relationship between the global DMF-S Score (p = 0.042) and dental anxiety. No relationship was found comparing missing surfaces (p = 0.107) and filled surfaces (p = 0.516) with dental anxiety. Destroyed 16 surfaces are, however, significantly higher in patients with more dental anxiety (p < 0.0001). A higher dental anxiety therefore often causes minimalistic dentistry to fail due to more teeth being destroyed.

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with dental anxiety still have a worse oral hygiene than patients without dental anxiety. It is still necessary, in this time of caries prevention rather than over-treatment, to be educated so that patients suffering dental fear receive the right treatment.