Dental Fear- a Cross Sectional Study among Various Age Groups of South Indian (Chennai) Population

Aims: People who suffer from dental anxiety often fail to visit the dentist for routine care. Apprehension prior to or during dental treatment is a normal human reaction, but higher levels of anxiety and fear can be a barrier to receive regular dental care and to maintain good oral health. Several factors, especially direct and indirect conditioning have been reported to contribute to dental fear and anxiety among people of different age groups. This study evaluates the various levels of dental fear and anxiety in south Chennai population of different age groups using Likert rating scale.
Study Design: Cross sectional verbal survey.
Place and Duration of Study: Chennai, 3 months duration.
Methodology: A randomized cross sectional verbal survey was conducted on about 550 adults aged above 18 years, by utilizing the Likert rating scale. A significance level of data was analysed using IBM SPSS 19.0 version. Pearson’s chi-square tests were used for comparison of means and relationship between the attributes.
Results: Mean value represented people above 50 years of age were found to have high levels of dental fear; 30-50 years had moderate levels, whereas, people of 18-30 years age group were found to have comparatively least levels of dental fear. But there was no significant difference in levels of dental fear between different age group and sexes.
Conclusion: The study shows that dental fear was high among the research participants irrespective of their age. Higher dental fear was found among those who were 50 years and above.