Assessment of the prevalence of dental anxiety among Palestinian clients attending dental clinics in Bethlehem city: Cross sectional study

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of dental anxiety as well as the relationships between socio-demographic data and perceived dental anxiety among Palestinian clients who attend dental clinics in Palestine. Materials and methods: Participants were recruited into the study from July to August, 2013 from several dental clinics. The modified Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) was used to measure dental anxiety among the study population. Results: One hundred and sixty four respondents returned the questionnaire after they filled it while in the reception area waiting their turn to see the dentists. Findings reveal that more than one third of the participants experienced a severe level of dental anxiety and were anxious mostly about tooth drilling and local anesthetic injection. Females experienced significantly more dental anxiety than males, but the relationships with other socio-demographic data (including education, place of residency, marital status, and visit habits ) were not significant. Conclusion: This study found high prevalence of dental anxiety which may represent special challenges to the dentists to treat individuals with dental fear. Non of the socio-demographic data except gender revealed statistically significant relation with dental anxiety among the study population Further studies are required to investigate the factors that may lead to increased the prevalence of this phenomena among the Palestinian clients. Keyword: Dental Anxiety, Prevalence, Cross Sectional Study, Socio-Demographic Variables