Evaluation of the level of dental anxiety in patients applying to Ondokuz Mayis University Faculty of dentistry restorative dental treatment department clinic

Aim: It was aimed to measure the correlation of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) and Dental Anxiety Question scales, which are frequently used to measure dental anxiety, in patients applying for restorative dental treatment, and to determine how the dental anxiety levels measured according to MDAS differ according to demographic variables and patient information form data. Materials and Method: Previous studies and publications on the measurement of dental anxiety were examined and the survey questions were prepared in this direction. The population of the study was accepted as the population and the power analysis was performed by considering the number of patients over the age of 18 and under the age of 65 who applied to the Department of Restorative Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry of Ondokuz Mayıs University. The sample was determined as 140 people. The questionnaire was applied to the patients who applied to our department for treatment by the researcher. After data collection, using SPSS 22.0 (IBM Corporation, Armonk, NY,USA) package program, Chi-square, Kolmogorov-Smirnov, Spearman, Mann-Whitney U Statistical analyzes were made with the Kruskal-Wallis, Bonferroni tests. Results: 140 people who applied to Ondokuz Mayıs University Faculty of Dentistry, Department of Restorative Dentistry participated in the study. The median MDAS value of all individuals included in the study was 10.00. The mean age of the participants was 31.26. When the anxiety levels of female and male patients were compared, women were higher. They were found to have anxiety. (p<0.05) When the patients were evaluated according to the time of their last visit to the dentist, the procedures they had done in the last 5 years, smoking, and use of dental floss/interface brush, their anxiety levels did not differ significantly among these groups. (p>0.05) When the patients were compared according to the frequency of tooth brushing, it was seen that the patients who did not brush regularly had higher anxiety. Conclusion: MDAS and DAS are simple, reliable and practical scales for determining the level of dental anxiety in dentistry practice