J Korean Acad Oral Health.  2015 Dec;39(4):229-236. 10.11149/jkaoh.2015.39.4.229.

Review on dental fear and anxiety factors by DFS

• Hong JS
• Kim YS
• Lee HJ
• Kim JY
• Chang KW

• KMID: 2151776
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.11149/jkaoh.2015.39.4.229

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The study on dental fear has increased recently. Studies found that people with high dental fear and or anxiety were less likely to visit dentists. The aim of this study is to review the trend of study on dental fear and to analyse the major factors related to dental fear.
METHODS
Seventy four papers listed in Korea Citation Index and SCI(E) were assessed. Quality Assessment and Validity Tool for Correlation Studies (QAVTCS) and Dental Fear Study (DFS) were used in this study. SPSS 12.0 was employed to analyse the descriptive statistics, t-test and Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) with stepwise.
RESULTS
The total mean score of QAVTCS for international studies was significantly higher than domestic studies (P=.001). The mean scores of item, 'Seeing the anesthetic needle' and 'Feeling the anesthetic needle', were severe level (Means= 3.05, 3.14, severe>3.00). According to the MLR, the powerful predisposing factors (independent variable) on 'Overall fear of dentistry (dependent variable)' were 'Hearing the drill' (P<.01) and 'Having teeth cleaned' (P<.05).
CONCLUSIONS
It was concluded that people had high dental fear in direct dental treatment environment such as contact with seeing anesthetic needle and hearing dental drill. Therefore, this study suggests the need to map out specific and multidirectional plan for decreasing dental fear.

Keyword

Dental fear; Dental phobia; DFS; Multiple regression; Review

MeSH Terms

Anxiety*
Causality
Dental Anxiety*
Dentistry
Dentists
Hearing
Humans
Korea
Linear Models
Needles
Statistics as Topic
Tooth

Figure

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  Fig. 1. Flow diagram for data collection.

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  Fig. 2. Percentage of the published dental fear articles over period.

Reference

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