Display Settings:

Format

Send to:

Choose Destination
    Behav Modif. 2000 Jan;24(1):57-68.

    Changes in levels of dental anxiety as a function of dental experience.

    Source

    Community Dental Health Services Research Unit, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

    Abstract

    From the literature, it is increasingly apparent that dentally anxious individuals are not a homogeneous group and that the development and maintenance of dental anxiety are complex phenomena. In this study, individuals who had avoided dental treatment in the past due to fear but were no longer fearful were compared with others who had avoided and were still fearful on a number of demographic, experiential, and attitudinal variables under the assumption that avoidance is likely to prevent the emotional processing of dental anxiety. The groups differed markedly in their experience of dentistry; anxious avoiders were more likely to have experienced more invasive and less noninvasive dental treatment; they feared pain more and were more negative about dentistry than those whose anxiety had remitted. In addition, the remitted avoiders were less likely to claim frightening or embarrassing dental experiences as well as being less reactive to these experiences than the others.

    PMID:
    10641367
    [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

      Supplemental Content

      Icon for HighWire Press

      Save items

      loading

      Recent activity

      Your browsing activity is empty.

      Activity recording is turned off.

      Turn recording back on

      See more...
      Write to the Help Desk