Assessment of Dental Anxiety Levels in Patients undergoing Endodontic Treatment

Abstract

Introduction Dental anxiety may be defined as a state of unpleasant feeling combined with an associated feeling of impending doom or danger from within than from without. Anxious patients are difficult to manage and tend to avoid treatment. Aim The aim of the study is to evaluate the level of dental anxiety among patients undergoing endodontic treatment. Materials and methods Consent form and a pro forma of questionnaire [Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS)] in three different languages were used. The patients undergoing endodontic treatment were first explained about the study and how the study would be carried out with a sample size of 250 patients. The minimum score of 5 and the maximum score of 25 was considered for evaluation. Cut off at 19 or above indicates a highly dentally anxious patient. Statistical analysis Analysis was done using the Student’s t-test and Kruskal–Wallis test. Results There were significant differences in the level of anxiety between male and female patients when the tooth was about to be drilled, when the teeth were about to be scaled, and when the local anesthetic was to be administered (p = 0.05, 0.02, and 0.06 respectively), except for anxiety levels a day prior to treatment and when patients were in the waiting room, which was not significant (p = 0.46 and 0.14 respectively). Conclusion In general, it was observed that patients are slightly anxious related to dental appointments and fairly anxious when related to treatments. Female patients tend to be more anxious than men, and patients in age group below 25 years are more anxious than other age groups. How to cite this article Phodse K, Shenoy VU, Machale PS. Assessment of Dental Anxiety Levels in Patients undergoing Endodontic Treatment. J Contemp Dent 2017;7(2):91-96.

Patients’ perceptions and experiences about the root canal treatment: An exploratory study among Saudi population

“…Segura-Egea et al reported similar percentage for woman (47%). While male mean anticipated pain in current study 38.40 ± 29.71 (38%) found lower than Segura-Egea et al [19] and Martín-González et al [1,5,12,13,16] One explanation for this pattern may be that males continue to conceal their fears because of their orthodox gender position [5] or because of social standards that they more bear pain than females. [19] Current study found no correlation with mean anxiety and pain perception with gender which in line with the Kanegane et al [20] These results indicated that women had higher anticipated pain levels than did men, but women did not differ from men on anxiety and pain in RCT.…”

“…[11] which not only poses a risk to the patient's oral health but also poses serious medical conditions such as septicemia, sinusitis, and osteomyelitis. [12] Despite technical advancements in dentistry, anxiety about dental care and the fear of dental pain remain widespread worldwide and are considered a major barrier to dental care. [12] Based on previously published data, educating patients about anticipated post-endodontic pain and prescribing medicines to manage it can increase patient trust in their dentists, raise pain thresholds and improve their attitude toward future dental care.…”

“…[12] Despite technical advancements in dentistry, anxiety about dental care and the fear of dental pain remain widespread worldwide and are considered a major barrier to dental care. [12] Based on previously published data, educating patients about anticipated post-endodontic pain and prescribing medicines to manage it can increase patient trust in their dentists, raise pain thresholds and improve their attitude toward future dental care. [13] Janczarek et al [14] in his study reported that there is an increase in patient knowledge and understanding of endodontic care [15] if pain risk factors that can be assessed before initiation of treatment could be identified, dentists may use this knowledge to preoperatively classify patients at elevated risk and adopt proactive measures to alleviate pain and mitigate patient discomfort.…”