Assessing dental anxiety in young girls in KSA

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential causative factors of dental anxiety in girls aged 6–14 years in Almadinah Almunawwarah, KSA. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with a random sample of school girls aged 6–14 years. The participants' perceptions were captured using the self-administered Abeer Children Dental Anxiety Scale. RESULTS: There were 118 respondents and the results showed 47.6% prevalence of dental anxiety. Dental extraction was reported as the most common cause for dental anxiety (18.6%), followed by the feeling of numbness after the application of dental anaesthesia (17.8%). There was no significant relationship between dental anxiety and cognition. The highest score of dental anxiety was found in children aged 7–9 years, of which 35.6% (42/118) had previously never visited a dentist. A negative correlation between dental anxiety scores and age was reported with a Pearson correlation coefficient of −0.026. CONCLUSIONS: Dental extraction, anaesthesia, and numbness were the most frequent causative factors of dental anxiety that appear to decrease in frequency as the child gets older. However, the highest score of dental anxiety was reported in 7- to 9-year-old girls.