Dental Fear and Dental Health and Attendance among Finnish Male Prisoners

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the prevalence of dental fear and the associations between dental fear and dental health and dental attendance among Finnish prisoners. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eighty-nine voluntary male prisoners from the Pelso Prison participated in this cross-sectional clinical study between September 2014 and February 2015. Forty-six (51.7%) of them were also interviewed for their background factors, dental fear and dental attendance. To evaluate the prisoners’ level of dental fear, the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale and Dental Visual Analogue Scale were used. The numbers of decayed, missing, filled and remaining teeth reported dental health. For analyses Pearson’s Chi-square test, Fisher’s exact test, logistic regression analyses and the independent samples Kruskall-Wallis test were conducted. RESULTS: Among male prisoners four out of 46 (8.7%) reported severe and fourteen out of 46 (30.4%) moderate dental fear, 60.9% had mild or no dental fear. Those with no dental fear visited a dentist regularly more often than those with dental fear. The use of snuff and number of medications were positively associated with severe dental fear. CONCLUSIONS: Dental fear is common among Finnish male prisoners. High number of prescribed medications, use of snuff and irregular dental attendance may indicate severe dental fear among Finnish male prisoners.