Original Research Article
Year: 2021 | Month: January-March | Volume: 6 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 190-195
Assessment of Dental Anxiety using Modified Dental Anxiety Scale among Patients Seeking Oral Health Care at Dental College in Central India -A Cross Sectional Study
Kamalkishor Mankar1, Sanika Kamble2, Pranjali Bawankar3, Sushil Naik4
1Associate Professor, Department of Periodontics and Implantology, 2Intern,
3Senior Lecturer, Department of Periodontics and Implantology,
4Lecturer, Department of Public Health Dentistry,
VSPM Dental College and Research Centre, Nagpur.
Corresponding Author: Pranjali Bawankar
ABSTRACT
Background: One of the most challenging thing to manage in dental settings is dental anxiety. Such patients tend to avoid dental treatment, ignore the symptoms and leave their oral health issues to worsen. The aim of the present study was to assess the level of anxiety of using modified dental anxiety scale among patients seeking oral health care at dental college in central India.
Materials and methods: A total of 1000 patients equally divided into groups based on gender (500 males and 500 females) were assessed for the dental anxiety using the modified anxiety scale. A self‑administered prevalidated questionnaire was used to evaluate the level of anxiety among the patients.
Results: A significantly large number of males were found to be extremely anxious of seeking dental treatment as compared to females. 7.2% of the total study population was extremely anxious of thought of visiting a dentist, 7.3% were extremely anxious of sitting in a waiting room, 12.4% were anxious of thought of tooth being drilled. While a lesser proportion (3.9%) of the study population was anxious about the scaling and teeth cleaning procedure. A larger proportion of the entire study sample was anxious about the local anesthetic injection (9.3%).
Conclusion: The findings of the present study suggested that a large number of patients were extremely anxious of the thought of the teeth being drilled followed by the local anesthetic injection. The males were found to be more anxious of the dental treatment than females.
Keywords: Dental Anxiety, Oral health, Modified Dental Anxiety Scale.