Abstract
Dental anxiety (DA) is defined as unreasonable apprehension toward dental procedures. About 4–20% of the worldwide adult population presents DA, with peaks of 30% in the younger population. Managing patients with dental anxiety and fear with a reliable and valid instrument is necessary to understand the multidimensional dimensions of dental fear. This work aimed to validate the Index of Dental Anxiety and Fear (IDAF-4C+) into Italian. Two hundred and eighty dental students attending an Italian university were enrolled. The IDAF-4C+ was translated by experts and a native English translator, blinded to the original version. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) was used to assess the validity of IDAF-4C+. Spearman correlation coefficients and Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA) were used. Reliability was evaluated by Cronbach’s alpha. The reliability of the Italian version of IDAF-4C+ was good (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.88). Correlation between IDAF-4C+ and MDAS ranged between 0.42 to 0.68. From EFA, one factor explained 58.76% of the common variance. Women showed a higher level of dental fear. The Italian IDAF-4C+ is a valid and reliable tool to assess DA in any clinical context. This instrument allows for a proper understanding and management of DA, and therefore a better patient oral health-related quality of life and compliance with the dentist’s instructions.
Highlights
Dental anxiety (DA) is defined as unreasonable apprehension toward dental procedures or the whole context of the dental setting [1,2]
From the exploratory factor analysis of the IDAF-4C+, it emerged that one factor explained 58.76% of the common variance
Items in IDAF-4C+ reported factor loadings ranging from 0.65 to 0.88, which confirms the strong correlation of each item with a latent construct
Summary
Dental anxiety (DA) is defined as unreasonable apprehension toward dental procedures or the whole context of the dental setting [1,2]. Considered one of the most relevant causes of avoidance of dental treatments [7], DA is a substantial public health problem [8,9] that may interfere significantly with the individual’s everyday life [10]. The prevalence of DA ranges between 4% and 20% of the worldwide adult population, with peaks of 30% in the younger population [12,13]. These percentages significantly increase in patients with irreversible pulpitis, when over 80% showed mild to severe dental anxiety [14]
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