Prevalence and correlates of dental anxiety in patients seeking dental care
Abstract
Objectives: To examine the prevalence of dental anxiety and its associations with pain and other psychological variables among patients seeking dental treatment and develop a directed acyclical graph of these relationships. Methods: One hundred and twenty patients who sought regular or emergency dental care completed a semi‐structured interview assessing DSM‐IV specific phobia of dental procedures and questionnaires assessing dental anxiety, pain at last dental visit, blood‐injection‐injury (BII) phobia, social appearance anxiety, and other psychological constructs. Differences between regular and emergency patients were explored using t‐tests. Potential excess risk of dental anxiety due to interactions between pain and psychological processes was explored. Finally, multivariate linear regression was conducted. Results: Thirty‐five percent of participants came for emergency care. Almost half (49.2%) reported moderate or high anxiety, and 20% met criteria for specific phobia. The relationship between pain at the last dental visit and dental anxiety scores was confounded by social appearance anxiety and BII phobia. Conclusion: The dental anxiety–pain response may be affected by psychological processes such as social appearance anxiety and BII phobia. Targeting these related psychological constructs may improve the management of anxiety treatment among adult patients seeking dental care.
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Many previous studies have found that individuals who tend to adopt a non-judgmental stance towards their own thoughts and feelings have lower anxiety.
“However, many previous studies have found that individuals who tend to adopt a non-judgmental stance towards their own thoughts and feelings have lower anxiety32,41,70,71”
From Rational thinking as a mediator of the relationship between mindfulness and dental anxiety (2023) · cites this paper as [41]
The significant role Acting with Awareness may play in mindfulness' potential alleviation effect on anxiety is consistent with Tellez et al.'s research on dental anxiety and other types of anxiety research.
“This is consistent not only with Tellez et al.’s41 research on dental anxiety, but also with other types of anxiety32,70,71, demonstrating the significant role Acting with Awareness may play in mindfulness’ potential alleviation effect on anxiety.”
From Rational thinking as a mediator of the relationship between mindfulness and dental anxiety (2023) · cites this paper as Tellez et al.41
Previous research on the relationship between mindfulness and dental anxiety is limited and the results have shown some inconsistency.
“Previous research on the relationship between mindfulness and dental anxiety is limited and the results have shown some inconsistency”
From Rational thinking as a mediator of the relationship between mindfulness and dental anxiety (2023) · cites this paper as Tellez et al.41
Tellez et al. found that only the two facets of Acting with Awareness and Non-judging measured by the FFMQ were negatively correlated with dental anxiety.
“while Tellez et al.41 found that only the two facets of Acting with Awareness and Non-judging measured by the FFMQ were negatively correlated with dental anxiety.”
From Rational thinking as a mediator of the relationship between mindfulness and dental anxiety (2023) · cites this paper as Tellez et al.41
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- Authors
- Tellez, M., Kinner, D. G., Heimberg, R. G., Lim, S., & Ismail, A. I.
- Affiliations
- Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry Temple University Philadelphia PA USA
- Adult Anxiety Clinic of Temple (US)
- Temple University (US)
- Venue
- Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2014-10-24
- Volume
- 43
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 135-142
- ISSN
- 0301-5661 (ISSN-L)
- 1600-0528
- OpenAlex
- W2101037788
- Cited by
- 60
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2
- FWCI
- 1.59
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Community Dentistry And Oral Epidemiology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Pennsylvania Department of Health
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Dentistry › Oral Surgery › Dental Anxiety and Anesthesia Techniques
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
- Health Sciences › Dentistry › Periodontics › Dental Health and Care Utilization
- Keywords
- dental anxiety, dental phobia, specific phobia, dental pain, blood-injection-injury phobia, social appearance anxiety, emergency dental care, prevalence, confounding, psychological correlates
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Aged, Cross-Sectional Studies, Dental Care, Female, Humans, Interviews as Topic, Male, Middle Aged, Pain, Patient Acceptance of Health Care, Surveys and Questionnaires, Prevalence, Dental Anxiety, Young Adult
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