Dental Procedures, Oral Practices, and Associated Anxiety: A Study on Late-teenagers

Abstract

ObjectivesThe study aims to determine the degree of anxiety pertaining to dental procedures and various oral hygiene practices among college teenagers.MethodsCorah's Modified Dental Anxiety Scale was administered on a randomly chosen sample of 100 Indian college students (50 males and 50 females) of Delhi University, belonging to the age group of 17–20 years.ResultsDescriptive statistical computations revealed 12.14 years as the mean age of first dental visit, with moderately high levels of anxiety (60.75%) for various dental procedures among the Indian teenagers and 5% lying in the “phobic or extremely anxious” category. With merely 4.16% people going for regular consultations, general check-ups evoked 78.3% anxiety and having an injection or a tooth removed was perceived as the most threatening. The sample subgroup not using mouthwash and mouthspray, smokers, and alcohol drinkers with improper oral hygiene practices experienced much higher anxiety towards routine dental procedures.ConclusionThe majority of the Indian youngsters had an evasive attitude of delaying dental treatment. The core problems lay in deficient health care knowledge, lack of patient-sensitive pedagogy to train dental professionals, inaccessibility of services, and a dismissive attitude towards medical help. The feelings of fear and anxiety prevalent among the Indian youth offer significant insights into causes and preventive measures for future research and practice. Methods of education and motivation could be developed to dissipate the anxiety amongst Indian teenagers that prevent routine dental visits and maintenance of adequate oral hygiene.

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Influence of Tooth Loss and Unmet Treatment Needs on the Social Aspects of Quality of Life and Self-esteem in Adolescents

“…This disagreement in the dental status and the subjects' self-evaluation of oral health habits could be explained in two ways: the influence of popular culture and mass media, or the desire to answer the questions in a more acceptable way. Our data about oral hygiene habits differ from similar studies [30,31], which showed that adolescents did not visit their dentists regularly. In part, this discrepancy could be explained by the rural nature of their study population, which had limited access to dental care.…”

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“…To explain the association between dental fear and level of caries, the understanding of the dental fear's cycle is essential. Dental fear leads to the avoidance of dental visit, which consequently contributes to poorer dental health, thus, these individuals often make dental appointments for more invasive treatment or emergency reasons, contributing to the increase of dental fear (21). Evaluating the non-use of dental services, Goettems et al (22) observed that around ¼ of the surveyed children had never visited the dentist and the prevalence of non-use was 62% higher in children who were afraid.…”