Posts Tagged: dental anxiety

Jun 04

Comparative study on the degree of dental anxiety among adolescents/young adults versus middle-aged/senior adults.

Horodincă Claudia-Iulia-Beatrice 1, Tohati Adrian 2
1 Emergency County Hospital Târgu Mureș, Romania
2 George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu-Mureș, Romania

Introduction: Dental anxiety is one of the most common diseases present in the global population. It induces aversion to dental procedures by causing a psychological response which misinterprets a dental stimulus as imminent danger. The purpose of this study was to analyze the degree of dental anxiety based on age groups, gender, background, but also on previous experiences, through a questionnaire distributed in different areas of Romania.
Materials and methods: A series of 14 questions relevant to the subjects was compiled in a questionnaire which was distributed to subjects of varying backgrounds. The questionnaire was formatted to allow the relevant drawing of conclusions from the collected data.
Results: 413 people responded to the questionnaire, of which 126 were women, 287 were men, 165 were from rural areas, and 248 were from urban areas. The age groups were divided in the following way: <35years, included adolescents/young adults, and >=35 years, included middle-aged adults/seniors.
Conclusions: It has been found that adolescents and young adults are more anxious than middle-aged adults and seniors, and that previous unpleasant experiences have left their mark on the patients’ anxiety levels before the visit to the dentist.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.62838/ASMJ.2024.1.04

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This entry was posted in Original paper, Volume 7, Issue 1, June 2024 on June 4, 2024
Jun 18

Fear and dental anxiety in children: a study of the contributing factors.

Maria Pasca 1, Andreea Pazitor 2, Daniela Esian 1, Oana Elena Stoica 1, Alexandra Mihaela Stoica 1, Cristina Ioana Bica 1
1 George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu-Mureș, Romania
2 Mures County Emergency Clinical Hospital, Targu Mures, Romania

Introduction: Dental fear and anxiety are an important issue affecting children’s oral health and clinical management, and also an insufficiently studied subject in dentistry.
Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to better understand the child patient – dentist versus dentist – child patient relationship and study the dental fear and anxiety of children in order to improve the dental office practice.
Material and methods: In this study a personalized questionnaire was created and applied on a number of 333 children, in 4 schools from Mures county, Romania, on girls and boys between the ages of 8 and 13. The questionnaires used emoticons alongside words in order to better determine the state of anxiety created by the dental appointment and everything that it entails. All data and results obtained were analyzed using Excel and Graph Pad Prism 5.0 software.
Results: Out of 333 patients, 133 subjects (40%) were 8-10-year-old, 143 subjects (42.9%) 11 – 13 years and 57 subjects (17.1%) were over 14 years. 175 girls (52.6%) and 158 boys (47.4%) demonstrated their courage and desire in participating in our study. It was determined that fear of dental appointments was caused in children over 14 years of age. The state of relaxation is generally enjoyed by urban children (45%) and those aged 11-13 years (37.1%); the percentage of boys in this category is an interesting aspect (40.5%).
Conclusion: Dental anxiety is multifactorial and is far more complex than can be explained by a single contributing factor. The direct involvement of the child from the perspective of maintaining dental health, leads to the elimination of the state of fear and anxiety. Regular visits to the dental office, on the initiative of the child patient itself can reduce the anguish.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/asmj-2021-0006

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This entry was posted in Original paper, Volume 4, Issue 1, June 2021 on June 18, 2021
Dec 11

Assessment of dental anxiety and the prevalence of dental caries in a group of 6-9 years old children

Ramona Vlad 1, Oana Elena Stoica 1, Alexandra Mihaela Stoica 1, Monica Monea 1
1 George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science, and Technology of Târgu Mureș, Romania

Children`s dental anxiety is responsible for increasing dental health problems, as patients avoid seeking treatment.
The aim of our study was to evaluate the level of dental anxiety and its correlation with dental health status in a group of children aged between 6-9 years.
Material and Methods. Our study included 56 children: first, they completed a questionnaire and then the decay-missing-filled teeth index was measured (DMFT).
Results. From a total of 59 children, 29 children had dental anxiety (51.78%) and the prevalence of caries was 69%. The mean and SD for the DMFT index was 1.76+/- 1.54 (2.04 +/- 1.98 for boys and 1.69 +/- 1.72 for girls, with p= 0.0391, p<0.05).
In conclusion, the level of dental anxiety can be reduced by frequent visits to the dental office. A favorable personal experience might help children increasing their confidence for dental treatment. There was a significant negative association between the value of filled teeth and the level of child`s anxiety.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/asmj-2020-0010

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This entry was posted in Original paper, Volume 3, Issue 2, December 2020 on December 11, 2020