Background: Dental fear (DF) is a normal emotional reaction to one or more specific threatening stimuli within the dental situation. Dental phobia represents a severe type of dental anxiety (DA) and is characterized by persistent anxiety in relation to either discernible situations/objects (e.g., drilling and injections) or dental situations in general. This study aimed to evaluate the prevalence of DF and anxiety and the most common causes of dental phobia among the public.
Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive survey, based on a structured questionnaire, conducted in hospitals, malls, and dental clinics. Social media outlets were also used to collect the responses. The questionnaire also included demographic features, such as age, gender, and specialty. The collected data were statistically analyzed with descriptive statistics and Pearson chi-square test (p < 0.05), using SPSS Version 23.
Results: The study included 456 participants; the age of the participants varied from 15 to 60 years (M = 28.8,SD = 8.44). Among the participants, 166 (36.4%) suffered from dental phobia, 120 (26.3%) may be suffered from dental phobia, while 171 (37.4%) had no experience of dental phobia. Most of the reasons of DA were fear of pain (35.86%), prior negative experiences (13.4%), dental anesthetics injection (16.66%), sound of teeth drilling (14.85%), condition of teeth and mouth (6.52%), (5.07%) all the reasons mentioned and (7.60%) other causes, such as infection control and dentist skills.
Conclusion: Dental phobia and anxiety among some Saudi Arabian dentists and the public population, usually result in the postponement of routine dental care and adversely affect the patients' oral health.
Key words: Dentophobia, dental anxiety, dental visit
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