Dental Anxiety among Dental Students at the University of Nairobi Dental School, Kenya

Abstract

Objective: To investigate dental anxiety among University of Nairobi dental students. Study Design: Descriptive cross-sectional study. Study Area: University of Nairobi Dental School. Methodology: A total of 73 students who study at the UONDS who gave informed consent and fit the inclusion criteria were interviewed using self-administered questionnaire (open ended and close ended questionnaires). Dental anxiety was measured using the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale. Results : A total of 73dental students were involved in the study, their ages ranged between 18-20 years 13(17.8%), 21-23years 37(50.7%) and 24-26years23(21.7%) of whom, 30(41.1%) were male, 43(58.9%) were female. Majority of the students, 63(86.3%) had been to a dentist before. Incidence of high dental anxiety among the dental students was 30% with 13(30%) and 9 (30.2%) females and males respectively reporting high levels of level anxiety. Half of the participants, 32(50.8%) had missed a dental appointment and out of those,10(31.2%) had high levels of anxiety. 42(57.5%) participants had reported existing dental problems, 11(26.2%) of them reported high anxiety. 31(42.5%) students fear the dentist and of those , nearly half, 15(48.4%) reported high levels of anxiety The main reason cited for motivating the students to visit a dentist was pending appointment 27(58.7%) followed by pain 17(37%) and 2(4.3%) visited the dentist due to pressure from family and friends. Conclusion: The prevalence of dental anxiety amongst university of Nairobi undergraduate dental students was 30%.There was no relationship between level of anxiety and age or gender. However, there was a positive relationship between dental anxiety and self-perception of the fear of the dentist. Though there was no statistical significance those with missed dental anxiety seemed to have high dental anxiety. Most of the students have existing dental problems that they have not sought treatment with most of them reporting irregular dental visits and a significant number citing pain as the motivation to go visit a dentist. This may suggest that dental treatment is only sought in the emergency stages of the disease