The relationship between dental anxiety and other kinds of anxiety: a naturalistic, cross-sectional and comparative study

Abstract

Background Dental anxiety is of public health importance because it leads to postponed dental treatment, which comes with health complications. The present study investigated whether there is a correlation between the degree of dental anxiety and other kinds of anxiety and whether there are prognostic factors for the different kinds of anxiety. Method In the sample (N = 156) from a dental practice in a large German city, 62% of patients received a check-examination and 38% received dental surgery. The target variables were recorded with validated questionnaires: dental anxiety (IDAF-4c+), subclinical anxiety (SubA), anxiety of negative evaluation (SANB-5), current general anxiety (STAI state), loneliness (LS-S) and self-efficacy (GSW-6). The applied statistics were: t-tests for 31 variables, correlation matrix and multivariate and bivariate regression analyses. Results The dental surgery patients displayed more dental anxiety and more dental interventions than the check-examination group. The main result was a positive correlation of all kinds of anxiety with each other, a positive correlation of loneliness and neuroticism with all forms of anxiety and a negative correlation between all forms of anxiety and self-efficacy. Especially dental anxiety is positively associated with other kinds of anxiety. In multivariate regression models only neuroticism is associated with dental anxiety, but feelings of loneliness are positively associated with with the other kinds of anxiety assessed in this study. The higher the self-efficacy, the lower the level of general anxiety. Conclusions In dentistry, anxiety from negative experiences with buccal interventions should be distinguished from anxiety caused by personality traits. Self-efficacy tends to protect against anxiety, while loneliness and neuroticism are direct or indirect risk factors for anxiety in this urban dentistry sample. Dental anxiety seems to be independent from biographical strains but not from neuroticism. In practice, more attention must be paid to anxiety control, self-management and efforts to improve the confidence of patients with emotional lability, less self-confidence and propensity to shame.

Web-Based Interventions Reduced Dental Anxiety among Adults in Lithuania and Norway: A Pilot Study

“…This finding is in line with results from the UK and Korea, showing that individuals with higher levels of both general or specific self-efficacy report lower levels of DA [ 22 , 24 ]. However, a recent study from an urban German population found that higher levels of general self-efficacy were not associated with DA but with generalized anxiety [ 21 ]. Nevertheless, the results related to oral health self-efficacy in this context indicate that individuals’ thoughts and perceptions about self-confidence and control related to oral health behaviors and procedures are important factors in determining how individuals cope with stressful situations in dentistry [ 53 ] and that the intervention might have had some influence over these parameters.…”

“…For instance, higher knowledge levels are found to be associated with problem-oriented coping, self-management, and self-efficacy among diverse patient groups [ 17 , 18 , 19 ]. Self-efficacy is defined as the expectations or beliefs individuals have about their ability to perform a behavior [ 20 ], and it has been shown that general self-efficacy is associated with lower levels of general anxiety [ 21 ] and dental anxiety [ 22 ]. Though general self-efficacy does not always appear related to DA [ 23 , 24 ], specific types of self-efficacy, e.g., “oral health self-efficacy,” might be more reliably associated with DA, as this concept may prevent and reduce DA for some people [ 21 ].…”

“…Self-efficacy is defined as the expectations or beliefs individuals have about their ability to perform a behavior [ 20 ], and it has been shown that general self-efficacy is associated with lower levels of general anxiety [ 21 ] and dental anxiety [ 22 ]. Though general self-efficacy does not always appear related to DA [ 23 , 24 ], specific types of self-efficacy, e.g., “oral health self-efficacy,” might be more reliably associated with DA, as this concept may prevent and reduce DA for some people [ 21 ]. However, little data is available regarding oral health self-efficacy (OHSE) and DA.…”

Associations between the perception of dental pain and pain anxiety, mental pain, and dental anxiety in Iranian sample

“…43,44 Moreover, the painful and damaging experience of dentistry, especially conditional experiences during childhood in the dental settings, and observational learning via observing fear of pain by family members are the other factors causing this anxiety. 45 Various studies have investigated the relationship between dental anxiety and pain perception. 46,47 In a study, Sanikop et al (2011) investigated the relationship between dental anxiety and pain perception during scaling.…”

Variables associated with oral health-related self-efficacy – results of a cross-sectional study

“…In addition, it has been shown that OHRQoL was indirectly associated with oral health knowledge through both self-efficacy and DHB [ 14 ]. Furthermore, a negative correlation between OH-SE and DF/A has been reported [ 15 ]. This finding is particularly relevant considering the detrimental effects of DF/A on oral health [ 16 – 18 ], as it has been shown that DF/A leads to a notable reduction in DHB, which is assumed to contribute to a vicious cycle of aggravated oral health and increased DF/A [ 19 – 22 ].…”