Journal of Dental Research, Vol 80, 1588-1592, Copyright © 2001 by International & American Associations for Dental Research Online Journals

ARTICLES

Psychological disorder, conditioning experiences, and the onset of dental anxiety in early adulthood

D. Locker, W. M. Thomson and R. Poulton
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. david.locker@utoronto.ca

Most studies examining the origins of dental fear and anxiety have relied on cross-sectional data. These are subject to several problems, such as recall and uncertainty concerning temporal relationships. This paper uses longitudinal data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study to assess risk factors for the development of dental anxiety in persons between the ages of 18 and 26 years. It was hypothesized that psychological factors would be as important as conditioning experiences in the genesis of dental anxiety over this period. The eight-year incidence of dental anxiety was 16.5%. Five variables entered models predicting onset: multiple fears, symptoms of substance dependence, previous experience of invasive dental treatment, dental visiting pattern, and the extraction of one or more teeth. Separate analyses for those avoiding and those using dental services resulted in different explanatory models. These results indicated that both psychological and conditioning variables contributed to the development of dental anxiety in this population of young adults.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. D. DiClementi, J. Deffenbaugh, and D. Jackson Hypnotizability, Absorption and Negative Cognitions as Predictors of Dental Anxiety: Two Pilot Studies J Am Dent Assoc, September 1, 2007; 138(9): 1242 - 1250. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]