EVALUATION OF THE LEVEL OF ANXIETY IN PATIENTS UNDERGOING DENTAL TREATMENT

Abstract

Introduction: Anxiety is a subjective state of feeling or reacting to an unknown situation. In cases when the feeling of anxiety occurs prior to dental treatment, it is called dental anxiety. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of anxiety during dental treatment of patients followed in the Integrated School of Dentistry, Federal University of Paraíba. Material and Methods: The sample consisted of 60 patients randomly selected who sought the aforementioned dental service. Data collection was conducted using a form with identification data and information inherent to the patient as well as specific issues regarding the degree of anxiety during dental treatment using the DAS (Dental Anxiety Scale) scale. Data were analyzed and the associations between level of anxiety and gender, age, household income, education level, frequency of visits to the dentist, were subjected to chi-square (X ²) test. Results: The prevalence of anxiety was high (98.3%); the majority of patients (70.0%) presented low level of anxiety, followed by 26.7% moderate and 1.7% exacerbated. Conclusion: It was concluded that the prevalence of anxiety was not associated significantly with any of the studied variables - gender (p = 0.566), age (p = 0.652), income (p = 0.791), education level (p = 0.747), frequency of visits to the dentist (p = 0.902) and procedures that would cause greater discomfort (p = 0.515); thus, anxiety was found to be an individualized fear of each patient. DESCRIPTORS: Dental anxiety, Anxiety, Dental Care