The fear dishabituation hypothesis described in the non-associative model of fear acquisition was tested in a longitudinal birth cohort study. Results were consistent with height fear and phobia dishabituation. That is, 're-emergence' of a fear of heights occurred between age 11 and 18 years among individuals who reported higher levels of non-specific stress at age 15. Interestingly, there was ...

This paper describes CARL (Computer Assisted Relaxation Learning), a computerized, exposure-based therapy program for the treatment of dental injection fear. The CARL program operates primarily in two different modes; in vitro, which presents a video-taped exposure hierarchy, and in vivo, which presents scripts for a dentist or hygienist to use while working with a subject. Two additional modes...

Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage. Due to the fear of pain associated with dental injections, some people avoid, cancel, or fail to appear for dental appointments. Pain and anxiety control are among the most important aspects in local anesthetic administration in dental practice. Administ...

Objective: To assess the relationship between Children’s Fear Survey Schedule-Dental Subscale (CFSS-DS) questionnaire’s items and sex age in children with moderate high dental fear levels. Methods: Cross-sectional study carried out a municipality Northeastern region of Brazil 185 aged 8-10 years both sexes, who had minimum score 32 on CFSS-DS questionnaire, corresponding to fear. Descriptive st...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the general and oral health status of patients at a dental hospital in Tokyo and examine the correlations between general health and oral health items. One hundred and seventy-four (174) new patients at the Dental Hospital of Tokyo Medical and Dental University participated in this study. The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was employed to investigate dent...

Background: Dental phobia is a disabling and clinically significant fear that interferes with the dental care necessary for a child’s or adolescent’s well-being. In fact, the definition of oral health in children and adolescents stresses, not only sound and well-functioning dental and oral structures, but also an absence of dental fear and anxiety. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an evide...

BACKGROUND Fear and anxiety often inhibit patients from seeking dental care. Audiovisual, or A/V, distraction techniques have been shown to reduce patient anxiety and pain during dental procedures. The authors investigated the effects of a virtual image A/V eyeglass system on patients' anxiety and pain. METHODS Twenty-seven routine dental prophylaxis patients participated and completed the De...

Introduction: Anxiety is an emotional state that helps healthy people defend themselves against threats. Dental anxiety is referred to a patient's specific response to stressful dental practices. The prevalence of dental anxiety is estimated to be between 3-43%. The relation between dental caries and dental anxiety is well understood, which happen as the result...

Although there is a growing literature on the incidence of occurrence and reporting of occupational exposures in clinics in dental schools, the contributing factors to fear of such injuries and their dynamic evolution over time remain unstudied. It is hypothesized that fear of occupational exposures is a function of estimated likelihood of such events and their perceived importance. Individual ...