Year : 2018

Volume : Volume 9

Issue : Issue 2

Address for correspondence :
Dr. Rohit Singh
rohitped0604@gmail.com

Abstract

Background:  Anxiety is nervousness, fear, unpleasant emotional state and worrying about anything.  There are changes in body which can be physiological or behavioral. Various scales have been developed to measure level of dental anxiety in people. Most common are Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventor (STAI), the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) and the Dental Fear Survey (DFS). Materials & Methods: This study was conducted in the department of Oral Surgery from January 2015 to June 2015. It included 120 patients in age group of 20-50 years. All were given questionnaire such as Spielberger’s State-Trait Anxiety Inventor (STAI) and the Dental Fear Survey (DFS) to respond. After obtaining the response in the questionnaire, all underwent extraction of third molar under local anesthesia. Response was recorded at 3 points- T-1 – immediately before extraction, T-2- immediately after extraction and T-3- after 1 week. Results: Out of 120 patients, males were 70 and females were 50. The difference was non – significant (P- 0.07). Duration of extraction (P- 0.04), type of local anaesthesia (P - 0.05) and duration of operation (P- 0.04) at T-2 showed significant difference in STRAI test. There was significant difference at T- 2 with duration of extraction (P- 0.02) and number of injections (P- 0.001).  Conclusion: Dental anxiety is common among those who visit dentist for any treatment for the first time than those who visit routinely. Patients should be educated regarding need of treatment and methods for reducing anxiety be employed.

Keywords: Anxiety, Extraction, Fear.