Dental Anxiety among Patients Seeking Dental Care in Bangladesh

Abstract

For the better management of dental patients, it is imperative to assess patients’ anxiety before providing treatment. Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) is the most commonly used psychometric instrument to assess dental anxiety. In Bangladesh, there is no reliable and valid instrument for assessing patients’ dental anxiety as well as no data on the prevalence of dental anxiety among dental patients. Considering this issue, the main objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of dental anxiety among patients by using the Bangla Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (BMDAS). The study incorporated two phases (I) test the psychometric properties of the Bangla Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (BMDAS) and (II) determination of the prevalence of dental anxiety along with associated factors among dental patients. In the phase-I, data were collected from 200 dental patients and 39 students of different hospitals and University of Dhaka respectively for testing the psychometric properties of the Bangla Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (BMDAS). Results on exploratory factor analysis revealed a one-factor model of dental anxiety similar to other studies. Results on testing reliability showed excellent internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha .90) and significant correlation coefficient (r = .78, p< 0.01) for the test- retest reliability. A correlation between Bangla Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (BMDAS) (r= .60, p< 0.01) and the Anxiety Scale (AS) was found to be significant in assessing convergent validity of the Bangla Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (BMDAS) whereas its content validity was assessed by the judges. These indicated good psychometric properties of the Bangla Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (BMDAS) for assessing dental anxiety. In the phase- II, data were collected from 311 dental patients of different hospitals for determining the prevalence of dental anxiety among patients. Results showed that the prevalence of dental anxiety was 23.5% among the dental patients which indicated nearly one fourth of the patients had dental anxiety. The predictors of dental anxiety among the patients were age, educational DENTAL ANXIETY AMONG PATIENTS v qualification, and past dental visits supported with other studies. Patients’ dental anxiety was found more on tooth drill and local anesthetic issues rather than others. There was a significant difference, t(309) = 2.90, P = .004, between the two age groups. Younger patients (M = 14.38, SD = 5.62) had more dental anxiety than the older patients (M = 12.50, SD = 5.06). Patients (M = 15.89, SD = 5.65) who never visited dentists reported higher level of dental anxiety than those (M = 12.67, SD = 5.10) had the experience of dental visit previously, t(309) = 5.06, P<.001. There was no significant effect for gender, t(309) = 1.26, P = .208, despite male patients (M = 14.16, SD = 5.54) attaining higher scores than female patients (M = 13.37, SD = 5.44). These findings supported with other studies. It can be said that the study revealed nearly one fourth of the patients had dental anxiety. Therefore, results of the study will contribute to assess dental anxiety among patients by using Bangla Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (BMDAS). Besides, the predictors of dental anxiety will help to make a proper treatment plan for the anxious patients accordingly.