Prevalence of Dental Anxiety in 7- to 11-Year-Old Children and Its Relationship to Dental Caries

Abstract

Objectives: The aims of this cross-sectional study were to evaluate the level of fear of dental procedures among schoolchildren and assess the relationship between caries experience and fear of dental procedures. Subjects and Methods: 275 children aged 7–11 years were recruited for the study. Before conducting a dental examination, each subject was asked to independently complete a Children’s Fear Survey Schedule – Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) questionnaire. Children having a score of ≥38 were included in the group ‘with dental fear’ while those scoring <38 were placed in the ‘without dental fear’ group. All dental examinations were performed on the school premises according to WHO criteria. Results: Mean CFSS-DS value was 28.1, and the number of children who experienced dental fear was 40 (14.5%). It was found that Decayed, Missing and Filled Surface Index (DMFS-dfs) increased significantly with increasing CFSS-DS values. Fear scores were highest for ‘Choking’ (3.3), ‘Injections’ (2.6) and ‘Having somebody put instruments in their mouth’ (2.6). No significant differences in fear scores between boys and girls were found in this study. Conclusions: The data showed prevalence of dental fear in the 7–11-year-old children of this study. Dental fear scores decreased with increasing age.

Dental subscale of children′s fear survey schedule and dental caries prevalence

“…The mean CFSS-DS score in the present study was 37.0 ± 8.89 which is similar to findings in Singapore (30.6),[2] Canada (for Chinese children, 31.9)[15] and China (35.7)[24] and much higher than findings in Turkey (28.7),[25] USA (28.7)[11] and the mean score was higher than the findings in Finland (22.1),[14] Sweden (23.1),[17] and the Netherlands (23.2). [9]…”

Factors for determining dental anxiety in preschool children with severe dental caries

“…It has been reported that dental anxiety could decrease with age. 4,20,21 Likewise, in this study, we found that 4-5-year olds experienced less dental anxiety than the 3-year olds. This could be owing to the development of cognitive abilities as well as the manner in which children learn to deal with anxious situations.…”

Prevalence of Dental Anxiety and Associated Factors among Indian Children

“…The mean score was 29.4 and median score was 28. Highest scoring items which scored 3 (fairly afraid) and above 5 (as very afraid) were "choking, followed by "injections" and "having to open mouth" which is consistent with the previous study done on 7 to 11 year old children in Turkey, where children were most afraid of "choking", injections" and "having somebody put instruments in mouth [16], and on 8 to 15 year old Japanese children showed that children are most afraid of "injections" and "drilling [20].…”

“…Since school-based samples offer the advantages of faster data collection because the children can be surveyed in groups and better representation of children of that locale, because even dental avoiders are likely to attend school [16]; thus the data for the present study was collected from school children along with their mothers. The CFSS-DS scale used in this study to determine child dental anxiety and corah's dental anxiety scale (DAS) used to determine maternal dental anxiety are both reliable and valid psychometric scales widely used in pediatric dentistry.…”