Evaluation of dental fear in pediatric dentistry

Dental anxiety is a common situation encountered for patients receiving dental treatment. Avoidance of dental care due to dental anxiety leads to problems with several adverse consequences to the patients oral health. Therefore, early identification of dental anxiety increases the success of treatment by eliminating the fear of the patient. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of dental fear and the relationship between dental fear and dental caries, find the ideal dentist appearance that can reduce anxiety of the child and improve dental treatment by altering the dentist appearance. "Children's Fear Survey Schedule- Dental Subscale" and "How should be a dentist according to the child?" questionnaires were applied to 810 patients between 6-12 years of age in this study. Patients were examined after the questionnaires and DMFT/dmft indexes were determined. The patients were divided into three subgroups according to CFSS-DS (low anxiety, medium anxiety, severe anxiety). Statistically significant difference was detected between the anxiety scores according to age and gender of the patients (p=0.046, p=0.001). Accordingly, anxiety score among 6-8 year olds and girls was found to be higher. When the relationship between anxiety and dental caries was evaluated, statistically significant difference was detected. (DMFT p=0.030, dmft p=0.015). DMFT/dmft scores were found to be higher in patients with high levels of dental anxiety. Additionally, it was detected that children had a high perception and strong preference towards the apperance of the dentist. It can be concluded that anxiety and dental caries are related and little alterations in the dentists' appearance can reduce the dental anxiety in children.