Prevalence of Dental Anxiety among Dental Patients in Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: Anxiety towards dental procedures are common difficulties that may be experienced by dental patients all over the world. This study focused on evaluating the dental anxiety frequency and its relationship with age, gender, educational level, and past dental visits among patients attending the outpatient clinics of College of Dentistry, Al Jouf University, Saudi Arabia. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 221 patients, aged 21–50 years were selected for the study. A questionnaire comprising the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) was used to measure the level of dental anxiety. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. RESULTS: The mean anxiety score of the 221 patients was 11.39 (SD ± 2.7). Independent t-test showed a significant variation between the age groups with regards to their mean overall anxiety score (P < 0.05), which reduced with increasing age. A significant difference was found by independent t-test in the mean total score between male and female groups and regarding previous dental visit (P < 0.05). Regarding education level, there was no significant difference between the groups (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Younger patients, female, and patients with previous unpleasant dental experience were associated with increased MDAS score. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The present study was done for better patient management and proper treatment plan development for dentally anxious patients.