literacy review final

8/13/2019 Literacy Review Final

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Kevin Buscemi

ENC 1102

Professor Wolcott

November 15, 2013

What Is Dental Anxiety?

People across the world dread the trip to the dentist, however, some fear it so much that

they are considered to suffer from dental anxiety. Dental anxiety is when the patient has such a

great fear of the dentist that it often results in the patient avoiding dental treatment, leading to

extremely poor oral health. Researchers have discovered that almost 10% of the worlds

population suffers from dental anxiety, ranging from mild to severe (Stenebrand 2009).

The studies also focused on the approaches being taken to account for the dental anxiety

of many patients. Many techniques were done, including ones as simple as scents in the waiting

room, and conversing with patients, to ones as serious as nitrous oxide treatment. It was shown

that the majority of the techniques proved to be affective, with the medical ones being a bit more

reliable. In fact, nearly half of the patients who reported having dental anxiety prior to the

procedure stated that the treatment effectively reduced their anxiety almost completely

(Veerkamp 1995). However, once again, there was no studies performed to see how much

technology, social media, television, and other societal factors impact dental anxiety levels. This

literature review will explain the ongoing discussion on the issue of dental anxiety; including

who is most likely to suffer from it as well as the numerous causes.

Whos Most Likely To Suffer From Dental Anxiety?


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Many people have done research to find out just who is suffering from dental anxiety.

Multiple studies were done to determine how ones gender, age, and past experiences influence

dental anxiety amongst them and they all included some sort of questionnaire as part of their

research method. For example, in Stenebrands study three different questionnaires were given in

an attempt to receive data that would help them compute a number describing the percentage of

individuals dealing with dental anxiety. Their results revealed that a little bit less than 10 percent

of individuals suffer from the disorder. Once completed, the results showed that roughly 7% of

the adolescents were suffering from dental anxiety, with girls tending to be more fearful

(Stenebrand 2009). Dental anxiety is more common than most people would think, and if you

think about it, Im sure youve dealt with some form of dental anxiety at some point in your life,

even if it was just extremely mild.

Previous studies of dental anxiety show that it tends to be more common in female

patients rather than males, and children as opposed to adults. The studies also showed how it is

more common for one to deal with dental anxiety if they have had a previous negative dental

experience that resulted in possible pain. A more serious approach to this topic is the studies that

discovered a significant link between dental anxiety and poor oral health and poor emotional

well-being. Roughly 75 percent of individuals who reported having both poor oral health and

emotional well-being were suffering from some sort of dental anxiety, whether it be moderate or

severe (Vermaire 2008)

Causes of Dental Anxiety

A few other studies were then performed to discover what type of people tend to be more

susceptible to dealing with dental anxiety. They analyzed many different characteristics such as

age, gender, and even ones overall personality. Results of the studies showed that females are


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more likely to suffer from dental anxiety, and the same can be said for young children. A more in

depth look revealed that patients with typically shy and nervous like personalities had a much

greater chance of dealing with the anxiety. To no ones surprise, the results showed that only one

personality trait has a correlation with high dental anxiety; that being neuroticism (Halonen

2012). It was clearly discovered that the natural characteristics of someone has a lot to do with

determining if they are likely to suffer from dental anxiety or not. However, they once again

overlook any possible influenced from society that children are around each and every day.

The majority of people have at some point in their lives experienced some sort of

negative experience at a dental office. This can range from suffering from the uncomfortable

feeling of someone touching the inside of your mouth to experiences resulting in seriously

painful outcomes, such as the dentist mistakenly poking ones gum with a sharp tool. Multiple

studies were done to discover that a negative past dental experience is one of the most common

causes of dental anxiety. The study also showed that roughly half of the children dealing with

dental anxiety suffered from some sort of painful incident during a previous dentist visit (Colares

2013). This is such a big issue and one of the most common reasons that children suffer from

dental anxiety.

Conclusion

There has been a ton of research done on numerous different aspects of dental anxiety.

Researchers have performed studies to determine who is more likely to suffer from dental

anxiety. They have also performed research on the many different causes of it as well. However,

there is a huge issue not receiving enough attention. Modern day society has played a huge role

on the fear children have for the dentist, and more research should definitely be done in this area.


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Works Cited

Carrillo-Diaz, M., Crego, A., & Romero-Maroto, M. (2013). The influence of gender on

the relationship between dental anxiety and oral health-related emotional well-being.

International Journal Of Pediatric Dentistry, 23(3), 180-187. doi:10.1111/j.1365-

263X.2012.01242.x

Corah, N. L., et al. "The dentist-patient relationship: perceived dentist behaviors that

reduce patient anxiety and increase satisfaction." The Journal of the American Dental

Association 116.1 (1988): 73-76.

de Jongh, A., Makkes, P., & Broers, D. (2004). [Treatment strategies for anxious adults

in general dental practice: guidelines for mild forms of anxiety]. Nederlands Tijdschrift

Voor Tandheelkunde, 111(2), 44-47.

Veerkamp JS, Gruythuysen RJ, Hoogstraten J, van Amerongen WE. Department of

Social Dentistry and Dental Health Education, ACTA, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

ASDC Journal of Dentistry for Children [1995, 62(1):44-48]

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