PATIENT-DENTIST RELATIONSHIP AND ITS EFFECT ON DENTAL ANXIETY

Authors: Fatemeh MOSLEMI, Amirhossein AQASSI, Maryam Alsadat HASHEMIPOUR

Abstract:

Introduction. Anxiety is a limiting factor in patients seeking dental care. This is a physiological factor which patients can hide, representing a complex phenomenon with internal and external influences. External influences are directly or indirectly related to bad experiences, while internal influences may be genetically determined and perhaps are physiological in nature. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between patient and dentist and its effect on dental anxiety.Method and materials. The subjects were selected among the persons who referred to dental offices, dental faculties and clinics in the Kerman city. Questionnaire included demographic information, and general questions about dentistry and about dental experience. Corah’s Dental Anxiety Scale wss used to assess anxiety. After the patient-dentist relationship questionnaires were filled in by patients, based on the score obtained from it and determining its cut of point, the patients were divided into two groups of appropriate and inappropriate relationship (control group of appropriate relationship, case group of inappropriate relationship). Chi-Square test and T-test were used for statistical analysis using SPSS21 statistical software. Results and discussion. In this research, 485 of the subjects were female and 258 were male. The mean age of participants was 7.43 ± 39.61. In this study, 123 people stated that they often feel depressed, 43 people were mostly nervous and 32 people had psychiatric counseling. The mean score of the questionnaire was 143.6± 11.2: 142.1±9.8 for men and 145.2±12.6 for women. The study showed a significant relationship between the score obtained from the questionnaire, gender, age, level of education and job (P = 0.12, 0.14, 0.08, 0.21, respectively). People with inappropriate relationship had higher anxiety scores, but this relationship was not significant. Therefore, we can say that an inappropriate relationship increases patient’s anxiety, but not significantly. Our results showed that in women and individuals with higher education, a better relationship reduced anxiety, its value being significant (P = 0.001). Conclusions. The results of the present research showed that an inappropriate relationship increases patient’s anxiety, but not significantly. Moreover, things like dentist’s explanation, patient’s feeling that the dentist will help, a friendly behavior reduced anxiety, while aspects like inappropriate smell, sound and light increased it.

Keywords:
  • anxiety
  • patient-dentist relationship