BackgroundTo analyze the pre- and postoperative anxiety level in patients undergoing ambulatory oral surgery (AOS) in a primary healthcare center (PHC).Material and MethodsProspective and descriptive clinical study on 45 patients who underwent AOS procedures in the dental clinic of a public PHC of Spain between April and September 2015. Anxiety analysis was carried out with pre- and postoperative anxiety-state (STAI-S), anxiety-trait (STAI-T) and dental anxiety (MDAS) questionnaires. A descriptive, inferential and binary logistic regression analysis were performed for the variables age, sex, educational level, previous experience of oral treatment, type of oral surgery, degree of third molar impaction, surgical time, intraoperative complications, postoperative complications, and pain score with a visual analogue scale (VAS).ResultsThe majority were female (57.8%) with a mean age of 33.5+9.6 years. The most frequent procedure was the lower third molar removal (82.2%). The mean pain score on the VAS was 1.6+1.8. The incidence of complications was low (7.8%). There was a statistically significant association between post- and preoperative anxiety (r=0.56, p<0.001) and a correlation between pain score and postoperative anxiety (Rho= -0.35, p=0.02). The likelihood of postoperative anxiety was related to preoperative anxiety (OR=1.3, p=0.03).ConclusionsAOS in a HPC is safe and should be more encouraged in the public primary care. The emotional impact on users was relatively low, highlighting that the preoperative anxiety levels were higher than the postoperative ones. Psychological factors related to pre- and postoperative anxiety should be considered in the AOS carried out in PC. Key words:Anxiety, oral surgery, ambulatory surgery, primary care, STAI scale, postoperative pain.