| JNDA Vol. 10 No. 1 (January -June 2009) | |
Dental anxiety among patients visiting a teaching dental hospital in Mangalore, India |
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| Shrestha A, Rimal J, Rao A, Sequeira PS, Doshi D | |
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| Abstract | |
Background: The assessment of dental anxiety among patients would provide information on their behavior and aid in planning treatment. The prevalence and factors affecting dental anxiety in new patients visiting a teaching dental hospital in Mangalore, India, were measured. Materials and methods: The cross-sectional study utilized a self-reported questionnaire based on Corah’s Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) translated into Kannada. Results: A total of 136 answered questionnaires were analyzed. The internal consistency of the scale assessed by Cronbach’s alpha was 0.72. The prevalence of dental anxiety was 34% (DAS ≥ 9. The mean DAS for dentally anxious females was statistically significantly higher than for the males (p=0.027). Mean DAS score was significantly (p=0.05) high for those who had visited a dentist earlier (11.76 ± 2.18). The highest mean DAS score (12.69 ± 2.24) was seen for those who had visited a dentist for tooth removal followed by cleaning, filling and dental check-up. Conclusion: The prevalence of dental anxiety was seen to be 34%. Females seemed to have higher dental anxiety as compared to the males. Dental anxiety was seen to be most among the younger age of the sample population. Higher dental anxiety was reported among those individuals who had undergone dental extraction in their previous visit. |
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| Keywords | |
Anxiety assessment, Corah’s Dental Anxiety Scale, Dental anxiety, Dental visit |
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