Dental anxiety among Israeli dental students: a 4‐year longitudinal study

Abstract

The aims of the present study were (a) to evaluate students' estimation of their parents' dental anxiety; (b) to measure students' dental anxiety and to study their ranking of the most fear provoking stimuli in the dental situation during their pre-clinical and clinical years; (c) to investigate gender differences among students with regard to dental anxiety. 30 3rd-year students (15 male and 15 female) who completed a 4-section questionnaire which requested sociodemographic information, evaluation of parents' dental anxiety, dental anxiety scale (DAS) and dental fear scale (DFS), completed the DAS and DFS in their 5th and 6th years. Both male and female students estimated their mothers' dental anxiety as significantly higher than their fathers'. Female students ranked their parents higher than males. DAS scores were significantly higher among female students than among males in the 3rd year. However, DAS scores were reduced from the 3rd to the 6th year among the total class and significantly among females, while males' levels of anxiety remained within close range throughout the years. The dental anxiety scores of all students who experienced a dental procedure in the past were higher than the scores of the students who did not. The most fearful stimulus was 'feeling the needle'. Our findings may suggest that the change in the reported dental anxiety of the students during the years of dental studies in the present study may be explained by the increased professional education and clinical experience that the students acquire throughout their studies in the dental school. Being exposed to basic trivial dental procedures (such as local anaesthetic injection) may help students either to be habituated or to use rational coping strategies when dealing with personal dental experience.

Dental Anxiety Among Dental Students

“…These findings are fully consistent with the results of other researchers that dental anxiety declines with each successive year of study (1,15). This can be explained by the increased awareness and education of the students, their professional development and acquired clinical experience.…”

“…Several studies on such contingents have demonstrated that moderate dental anxiety varies from group to group -11.9%, 11.22%, 13.27%, 13.58%, and high dental anxiety (DAS ≥ 13) -19%, 27.2%, 32% (2,8,14). Women tend to be affected by dental anxiety more often than men are, although the data fail to reach statistical significance in most cases (12,14,15). Major procedures that are considered to induce anxiety are the local anaesthetic injection and teeth drilling (1, 2, 12).…”

Prevalence of and factors associated with dental anxiety among medical and dental students of the Northern State Medical University, Arkhangelsk, North-West Russia

“…In addition, conversion tables can be used to compare our findings with results of MDAS from other studies [36]. Nonetheless, levels of DA in our medical and dental students were found to be lower [16,18,21,23] or comparable [15] with that reported in studies among other medical or dental students.…”

“…Many studies have focused on DA in young university students [15–26]. Lower DA has been found in dental than in non-dental students [15–17], and further reductions were shown among dental students during their dental training [17,18]. Reported predictors for DA have included self-reported need for dental treatment, tobacco use, abnormal attitudes towards food, insufficient oral hygiene, less frequent dental visits and the anticipation of pain [19,24,25].…”

6-12 Yaş Grubu Çocuklarda Di̇ş Heki̇mi̇ni̇n Diş Görünüşünün Dental Korku Ve Di̇ş Çürüğü İle İli̇şki̇si̇ni̇n Değerlendi̇ri̇lmesi̇

“…Cinsiyetin dental anksiyete gelişiminde doğal bir etiyoloji olduğunu açıklayan Corah"ın (26) yanısıra yapılan araştırmalarda genellikle kızların dental anksiyete seviyesinin erkeklerden daha yüksek olduğu bildirilmiştir (7,18,27). Liddell ve Murray (28) de 9 yaşından sonra cinsiyet farklılığının ortaya çıkmaya başladığını ve kızlarda dental anksiyetenin daha yüksek olduğunu belirtmişlerdir.…”