Anxiety due to Dental Treatment and Procedures among University Students and Its Correlation with Their Gender and Field of Study

Aim of Study. To investigate dental anxiety levels among university students and its relation with their specialty and gender. Materials and Methods. 850 undergraduate university students were recruited into the study. The Modified Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) was used to measure the levels of their dental anxiety. 700 questionnaires were returned, 390 females and 310 males (response rate of 0.92% among females, 0.73% among males). The MDAS score ranged from 5 to 25. Patients were considered to suffer from high dental anxiety if they scored 13 to 20 points. Statistical analysis significance was set at . Results. Seven hundred students participated in this study including 13% of medical students, 10% of dental students, 58% of arts students, and 18% of computer science students. Medical and dental students were less anxious than arts and computer science students ( ). Local anesthesia injection was the most fearful dental procedure ( ). Females were more anxious than males ( ). Conclusion. Male students were less anxious than female students. Students from medical background faculties were less anxious than students from nonmedical faculties. Lack of adequate dental health education may result in a higher level of dental anxiety among nonmedical students in Saudi Arabia. 1. Introduction Dental anxiety is a frequent problem among dental patients. It is a multisystem reaction to a perceived threat or danger [1, 2]. It reflects a combination of biochemical alterations in the body and patient’s personal history, memory, and social state. The presence of dental anxiety is not a dilemma for patients only but also for the dental professionals themselves; and sometimes it renders the treatment more complicated to be accomplished successfully [3, 4]. Oral diseases are chief public health concerns, and their prevalence could be boosted by dental anxiety [5]. In addition, dental anxiety might influence patient-dentist relationship, obscure proper diagnosis of the genuine dental problem, and result in deterioration of patients’ personal oral health [6, 7]. Kirova et al. found that it is the 25-26-year-olds that tend to experience higher dental anxiety than other people [8]. This could be attributed to the diverse impacts of a number of psychological factors in this age range that can induce dental fear and anxiety [9, 10]. Several studies reported significantly higher levels of dental anxiety among females; however, the clinical significance of this gender difference has been questioned [3, 11]. Taani found that dental anxiety was lower among Jordanian private