Journal of Oral Health and Community Dentistry

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VOLUME 14 , ISSUE 3 ( September-December, 2020 ) > List of Articles

ORIGINAL RESEARCH

Relationship between Dental Anxiety, Self-assessed Dental Status, and DMFT among Patients in a Tertiary Health Care Center at Pune: A Cross-sectional Study

T Prasanth, MS Rana

Citation Information : Prasanth T, Rana M. Relationship between Dental Anxiety, Self-assessed Dental Status, and DMFT among Patients in a Tertiary Health Care Center at Pune: A Cross-sectional Study. J Oral Health Comm Dent 2020; 14 (3):75-77.

DOI: 10.5005/jp-journals-10062-0076

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

Published Online: 25-01-2021

Copyright Statement:  Copyright © 2020; The Author(s).


Abstract

Aim and objective: To measure dental anxiety and to evaluate the relationship between dental anxiety, self-assessed dental status, and decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) scores. Materials and methods: Male patients in the age group of 18–55 years were randomly selected amongst those attending the outpatient department (OPD) at a tertiary health care center in Pune. A questionnaire was used to collect the data, which included self-assessment of dental status as well as the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). Dental caries status was evaluated using the World Health Organization (WHO) caries diagnostic criteria for DMFT. Results: Slightly more than half of the participants assessed their dental status as good, 47.6% as fair, and 1.2% as bad. Approximately 50% of the participants reported not anxious, 21.2% as moderately anxious, 20.8% as highly anxious, and 6.8% as extremely anxious. The mean MDAS score was 11.23 ± 4.17 amongst the participants. The study showed a significant relationship between dental anxiety, self-assessed dental status, and high DMFT scores (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The present study strongly suggests that in younger people, dental anxiety is associated with a host of preventive behavior problems as well as poor dental health. Clinical significance: Dental anxiety is widely prevalent in the general population and can lead to variable avoidance behavior toward dental treatment.


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