Abstract
BackgroundDental fear may lead to avoidance of regular dental treatment. The scope of this long-term practe-based study was to monitor the dental attendance of patients who received chair-side dental and fear treatment.MethodsIn 2000–2006, patients in the City of Oulu, Finland, received treatment for dental fear in the Clinic for Fearful Dental Patients (CFDP) from primary health care dentists trained on this subject. Of the originally treated patients (n = 163), 152 (93%) with sufficient information in dental records made up the study population. Information on their age and sex was available. The number of dental examinations, emergency visits and missed appointments was collected covering the follow-up period of 10 years 2006–2016. For analyses, data were dichotomized according to age at baseline and preliminary outcome baseline condition of dental fear treatment evaluated in 2006. To investigate association further, Poisson regression as well as binary logistic regression models were conducted. As register keeper, the City of Oulu gave permission for this retrospective data-based study.ResultsPatients receiving dental fear treatment at younger age (2–10 y) had significantly more dental examinations than those treated at > 10 years. Preliminary success was associated with the number of examinations, but not with emergency visits and missed appointments. Sex was not a significant factor in later dental attendance. There was an association between few dental examinations and dental emergency care need with unsuccessful baseline outcome of dental fear treatment.ConclusionsSuccessful dental fear treatment especially at an early age is beneficial for future dental attendance measured by the number of examinations and consequently, less need for emergency care than in the opposite case. Successful fear treatment has positive impact on later dental care and regular dental attendance.
Highlights
Dental fear may lead to avoidance of regular dental treatment
Study population Patients in this retrospective, practise-based study had been referred from the primary oral health care clinics in the City of Oulu Public Dental Services (PDS) to the Clinic for Fearful Dental Patients (CFDP) during the period 2000–2006 for dental and dental fear treatment
The patient files of n = 152 patients were analysed in 2016, i.e. 93% of those whose baseline condition of dental fear treatment from 2006 and full records were available in the database of PDS
Summary
Dental fear may lead to avoidance of regular dental treatment. The scope of this long-term practebased study was to monitor the dental attendance of patients who received chair-side dental and fear treatment. Dental fear associates with avoidance behaviour, inferior self-care, and oral health problems in general [5,6,7,8]. The signs of fearful behaviour may range from facial expressions to even freezing or fleeing [10]. All these reactions may be activated while attending. Avoidance of dental appointments may indicate avoidance of the fearful situation
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