Prevalence of Dental Anxiety and Fear among Medical Students at University of Thamar

Abstract

Background/purpose: Fear from dental treatment is widespread distressing problem for the dentist. Anxiety may have an impact to the dentist-patient relationship and it may cause to misdiagnosis. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the levels of dental anxiety and fear among medical students at University of Thamar.Materials and methods: Dental anxiety scale (DAS) and Dental Fear Survey (DFS) were completed by one hundred undergraduate medical students. Cross-tabulations were applied to determine the levels of DAS and DFS. Pearson's correlation was used to analyse the association among the dental anxiety measurements. Pearson's correlation also was used to investigate the association between DAS and DFS tests. Results: The prevalence of moderate dental anxiety in this sample was 51%, while both 12% of the sample was characterized with high and severe dental anxiety. There were association for question #1 to question #3 (0.368, p = 0.000) and question #4 (0.133, p = 0.191). Furthermore, the question #2 showed association with question #3 (0.362, p = 0.000) and question #4 (0.250, p = 0.013). However, the lowest relationship (0.088, p = 0.387) was noticed between question #3 and question #4. Respondents who reported moderate dental fear were 79%, whereas 12% of the sample was characterized with high dental fear. Pearson's correlation between DAS and DFS tests was 0.142 with p-value = 0.158.Conclusions: The overall dental anxiety and fear from dental treatment was still high. Therefore, more prevention protocols and dental health educational programs are recommended for employing in Yemeni universities.