Analysis on dental anxiety levels of individuals who are and who are not healthcare professionals

The objective of this study is, to assess the correlation between the dental anxiety levels of individuals who are and who are not healthcare professionals. A target group of 300 individuals contacted, within the scope of this assessment. However, due to certain inadequacies, 219 out of 300 surveys counted as valid surveys. Breakdown of this sample is as follows: 61 males-158 females, 83 healthcare profesionals-136 not healthcare professionals. Model of the assessment is general relational screening model. Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) used as a tool for collecting data. In this scale, each question is evaluated between 1 (not anxious) and 5 (excessively anxious), so the final grade for each individual can differ from 4 to 20. SPSS program used for data analyzing. The meaningful correlation between each item of the Dental Anxiety Scale and being a healthcare professional, assessed with chi-square test. Answers to the items of the Dental Anxiety Scale scored in order to have an anxiety score for each individual. Assessment done over independent groups with t-test and one-way analysis of variance, to discover if there is a meaningful correlation between these the different scores and gender, education level, income level and being a healthcare professional. Analyses done on 95% confidence level. Concerning the findings of the assessment, discovered that there is a meaningful difference between the dental anxiety levels of healthcare professionals and not healthcare professionals. With regards to this difference, dental anxiety levels of not healthcare professionals are meaningfully higher than the dental anxiety levels of healthcare professionals.