BACKGROUND Red hair color is caused by variants of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) gene. People with naturally red hair are resistant to subcutaneous local anesthetics and, therefore, may experience increased anxiety regarding dental care. The authors tested the hypothesis that having natural red hair color, a MC1R gene variant or both could predict a patient's experiencing dental care-relat...

Anxiety and fear are normal reactions in humans when situations are evaluating as being painful. In medical dentistry, anxiety and fear characterize in fact o problematic patient with special reactions during dental interventions and avoidance behavior, both behaviors having a great impact on patient’s dental health. The paper presents some causes and consequences of dental fear on patient’s de...

Despite advances in dentistry, anxiety about dental treatment and the fear of pain remains widespread among patients and is a significant barrier to dental treatment. This study would therefore provide information so as to minimize levels of anxiety and aid in planning stress-free treatment. The cross-sectional study utilizing a self-reported questionnaire based on Modified Corah's Dental Anxie...

Although previous research has successfully tested the usefulness of cognitive and non-cognitive factors to predict dental anxiety, they have rarely been jointly analysed. This study therefore aimed to compare the relative predictive power of a set of cognitive and non-cognitive factors in accounting for dental anxiety scores. A sample of 167 Spanish undergraduate students (81.4% women; mean ag...

OBJECTIVE To explore a) the relationship between parents'/guardians' dental anxiety and oral health literacy and b) those between these variables and background and oral health-related characteristics. METHODS Survey data were collected from 187 parents/guardians (81% female; average age 37 years). Dental anxiety was measured with the Dental Anxiety Scale - Revised (DAS-R) and oral health lit...

BACKGROUND Halitosis represents a common dental condition, although sufferers are often not conscious of it. The aim of this study was to examine behavior in a sample of Italian subjects with reference to self-reported halitosis and emotional state, and specifically the presence of dental anxiety. METHODS The study was performed on Italian subjects (N = 1052; range 15-65 years). A self-report...

The aim was to investigate the efficacy of behavioural interventions as treatment of dental anxiety/phobia in adults, by conducting a systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs). The inclusion criteria were defined according to the Patients, Interventions, Controls, Outcome (PICO) methodology. The study samples had documented dental anxiety, measured using validated scales [the Den...

BACKGROUND In dental examining rooms, children experience diagnostic and therapeutic pain related to dental procedures that may be associated with anxiety. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to evaluate anxiety and pain levels related to dental procedures in children. METHODS Children in a Mexican pediatric dental clinic rated their dental anxiety using the Modified Dental...