Evaluation of Anxiety to Dental Treatment in Students: Cross-Section Study - Abstract
The anxiety presented by the patients may be related to numerous factors. The study aims to evaluate the anxiety level and influence of factors of regarding dental treatment in high school students between 14 and 19 years of age, based on an anxiety scale and identifying the influence of determinant factors associated with anxiety. It’s a cross-sectional observational study including 153 students, of whom 47 were from the private school and 106 from the state school in a city of southern Brazil.
The Corah Dental Anxiety Scale, composed of 4 questions, was used to evaluate the dental anxiety levels of all students. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistic to verify the frequency distribution of all variables. Pearson’s chi-square test (p<0.05) and 95% confidence interval were used to evaluate the association between the dependent variable (dental treatment anxiety) and the independents, aided by the SPSS software 20.0. The descriptive results show that most of the participants
already consulted the dentist (98%) and presented satisfaction with the same (72.5%). School children reported that the greatest cause of dental fear is pain (33.3%), but they attend the dentist at least once every three months (43.8%). Regarding inferential analysis, the majority of the participants presented mild anxiety (48.3%), of which anxiety was higher in females (71.4%) and in those who were dissatisfied with their dentist (81%). This survey revealed that the level of dental anxiety found in students was mostly low, with influence of the individuals’ gender and their satisfaction with the dentist.