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Reducing Patients' State Anxiety in General Dental Practice: A Randomized Controlled Trial

¹ Department of Clinical Dental Sciences, The University of Liverpool, School of Dentistry, Liverpool, UK L69 3GN; and
² Academic Division of Clinical Psychology, School of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, Rawnsley Building, University of Manchester, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9WL, England;

*corresponding author, Y.M.Dailey{at}liverpool.ac.uk

Anxiety assessment by questionnaire provides information for the dentist and may also confer a psychological benefit on patients. This study tested the hypothesis that informing dentists about patients' dental anxiety prior to commencement of treatment reduces patients' state anxiety. A randomized controlled trial was conducted involving eight General Dental Practitioners in North Wales. Participants included patients attending their first session of dental treatment, and accumulating a score of 19 or above, or scoring 5 on any one question, of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). Patients (n = 119) completed Spielberger's state anxiety inventory (STAI-S) pre- and post-treatment and were randomly allocated to intervention (dentist informed of MDAS score) and control (dentist not informed) groups. Intervention patients showed greater reduction in mean change STAI-S scores (F[1,119] = 8.74, P < 0.0001). Providing the dentist with information of the high level of a patient's dental anxiety prior to treatment, and involving the patient in this, reduced the patient's state anxiety.

KEY WORDS: dental anxiety • anxiety management • communication • psychometrics

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