Oral Health and Dental Management

Abstract

Assessment of Dental Anxiety Level Among Adult Patients Visiting Dental College in Chengalpet District-A Questionnaire Survey

DN Shrienitha*, Sudhir KM, S Vishnu Prasad, Sreenidhi S, J Mahesh and K Indra Priyadharshini

Background: Dental Anxiety is considered to be an imaginary threat to an odd, unpleasant experience accompanied by the forewarning that something undesirable is expected. The aim the study was to assess level of dental anxiety among patients visiting dental college in chengalpet district

Materials and methods: The study consists of 519 adult patients from both genders visiting dental college in chengalpet for dental treatment. Data collection was carried out through the administration of self?administered pre?validated questionnaire. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) which consists of 7 closed ended questions with responses placed in five?point Likert scale and one open ended question was used to evaluate the degree of anxiety among study participants. Chi square test was done to know the association between anxiety and the type of dental treatment.

Results: The results shows there is presence of anxiety with dental treatment in giving an injection followed by extraction, visiting dentist, waiting room and scaling respectively. There was a significant difference between socio economic status and level of dental anxiety with a p value (<0.05), with an upper lower class of 42% very anxious. There is significant difference between new and old cases and level of dental anxiety with old cases value of very anxious (60%). There was no any difference in the anxiety level between male and female.

Conclusion: Dental anxiety was found to be present among patients undergoing dental treatment.