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Anxiety about dental hygienist treatment
Author(s) -
Jongh Ad,
Stouthard Marlies E. A.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
community dentistry and oral epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.061
H-Index - 101
eISSN - 1600-0528
pISSN - 0301-5661
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0528.1993.tb00728.x
Subject(s) - anxiety , medicine , feeling , learned helplessness , anxiety states , dental fear , dental care , clinical psychology , dentistry , psychiatry , psychology , social psychology
Abstract – Although dental anxiety is a well investigated phenomenon in dental health care, remarkably little is known about anxiety reactions related to treatment carried out by the dental hygienist. In the present study anxiety reactions were measured among 101 patients attending the dental hygienist. General level of anxiety was assessed through the PAQ (Photo Anxiety Questionnaire; S touthard , D e J ongh & H oogstraten , 1991), whereas an additional questionnaire was used to obtain information about specific stimuli and situations that might provoke anxiety in the dental hygienist situation. The results indicated that during dental hygienist treatment only 15% of the patients experienced no feelings of anxiety. Another 15% of the patients reported that a visit to the dental hygienist was more distressing than dental treatment. The level of anxiety appeared to be strongly related to a number of stimuli and situations, with actual pain (78%) and expected pain (67%) major anxiety provoking factors. The relation between pain and anxiety was highly significant, with highly anxious patients having more fear for pain than their low anxious counterparts. Also feelings and sounds of instruments, patient's helplessness and perceived lack of control over what happens were identified as important contributors to anxiety for the dental hygienist treatment. The results of this study suggests that treatment by the dental hygienist is a distressing event for many patients.