Prevalence Of Dental Anxiety Among University Students And Affect On Dental Attendance

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of dental anxiety in an adult Caribbean population and explore its relationship to socio-demographic factors and dental attendance. Methods: An anonymous self-administered questionnaire was distributed to students attending The University of The West Indies, in Trinidad. The questionnaire included demographic items, self-rated oral health and dental attendance and the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). This self-reported instrument has five questions about anxiety to dental treatment rated on a 5- point scale (1=not anxious to 5=extremely anxious). Results: 197 university students participated in the study. 51.3% were male. 76% were 18-24 years-old. Overall, 62.4% of participants reported a low level of dental anxiety (MDAS 5-14), 22.3% moderate dental anxiety (MDAS 15-18) and 15.2% severe dental anxiety (MDAS 19+). Over a quarter of participants reported that they would be extremely anxious if they were to have a tooth drilled or about to have a local anaesthetic injection (27.4% and 26.9% respectively). Higher mean anxiety scores were reported by female participants those who had difficulty finding dental care or had avoided going to the dentist due to fear of treatment (t-test p<0.05) and those with lower self-rated oral health (ANOVA p<0.05), Conclusions: Among this sample of university students, the majority of participants reported low levels of dental anxiety. Higher dental anxiety levels were associated with gender, difficulty finding dental care, avoiding dental visits due to fear and lower self-rated oral health.