Oral health status of non-phobic and dentally phobic individuals; a secondary analysis of the 2009 Adult Dental Health Survey

Abstract

Participants reporting dental phobia are mostly females, irregular attendees and have a greater treatment need with increased caries levels.

Dental Phobia among Pregnant Women: Considerations for Healthcare Professionals

“…e study found that 16.1% of the sample experienced dental phobia, and these prevalence estimates are higher than those reported in the studies of adult patients in other countries. e findings of the Adult Dental Health Survey 2009 in the UK showed that 12.4% of the population had dental phobia [16]. e prevalence of dental phobia ranged from 0.9% to 5.4% in a sample of adult Australians [9].…”

“…However, this comparison shows dental phobia is more common in pregnant women than adult population. Nevertheless, it should be noted that high risk of dental phobia in pregnant women may be related to the female gender [16,21].…”

“…A large body of evidence indicates that the prevalence of dental phobia ranges from 0.9% to 12.4% in adult patients from the community or those visiting dental teaching hospitals or public dental clinics around the globe [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Dental phobia is associated with poor oral health, reduced dental attendance, and compromised quality of life [15,16].…”

“…e patients with dental phobia were more likely to consider their dental experience more negative, report ineffective communication and lack of respect by the dentist, and receive treatment under conscious sedation [16]. Poor oral health of children is also related to dental phobia in their mothers, for example, a sample of 2-5 years of children was shown to have the highest caries experience if their mothers had dental phobia [17].…”

Children's experiences following a CBT intervention to reduce dental anxiety: one year on

“…10 The negative impacts of having dental anxiety in childhood are well recognised, with the potential for lifelong dental anxiety, avoidance behaviours and poor oral health. 8,11 It is therefore encouraging to see a recent emergence of studies involving CBT for children with dental anxiety which have yielded some very positive findings. A qualitative paper, published by a multidisciplinary Swedish group, explored the experiences of dentally anxious 7-19 year olds following 4-15 sessions of CBT with a clinical psychologist.…”