Dental fear among medical and dental undergraduates.

H Hakim,I A Razak

doi:10.1155/2014/747508

Abstract

Objective. To assess the prevalence and level of dental fear among health related undergraduates and to identify factors causing such fear using Kleinknecht's Dental Fear Survey (DFS) questionnaire. Methods. Kleinknecht's DFS questionnaire was used to assess dental fear and anxiety among the entire enrollment of the medical and dental undergraduates' of the University of Malaya. Results. Overall response rate was 82.2%. Dental students reported higher prevalence of dental fear (96.0% versus 90.4%). However, most of the fear encountered among dental students was in the low fear category as compared to their medical counterpart (69.2 versus 51.2%). Significantly more medical students cancelled dental appointment due to fear compared to dental students (P = 0.004). “Heart beats faster” and “muscle being tensed” were the top two physiological responses experienced by the respondents. “Drill” and “anesthetic needle” were the most fear provoking objects among respondents of both faculties. Conclusion. Dental fear and anxiety are a common problem encountered among medical and dental undergraduates who represent future health care professionals. Also, high level of dental fear and anxiety leads to the avoidance of the dental services.

Highlights

Behavioral sciences have become an increasingly important component in dental education and research
The “heart beats faster” and “muscle being tensed” were the top two physiological responses experienced by the respondents during dental treatment
It should be noted that some other studies have a different classification of high and low dental fear based on their mean Dental Fear Survey (DFS) score

Summary

Introduction

Behavioral sciences have become an increasingly important component in dental education and research. One aspect of it involves the application of psychological methods to the study of behaviour and attitudes relevant to health, illness, and health care, about being anxious or fearful of dentists and dentistry as well as of dental pain [1, 2]. Dentistry has advanced throughout the years with many improved technologies and better understanding of patient’s need. These improvements have not been able to eliminate or substantially reduce dental fear and anxiety among patients. Studies have revealed that uninvolved and noninteractive behavior of the dentist towards patients provokes fear [6]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion