Prevalence of Dental Fear Among Vilnius Pupils Aged 12 to 15 Years. Determining Factors

Rasa Raciene

Summary

Studies aimed at evaluating the incidence of dental fear among adolescents in the city of Vilnius on the basis of the CDAS (Corah Dental Anxiety Scale), DFS (Dental Fear Survey) and DBS (Dental Beliefs scale) scales and establishing the determining factors of this phenomenon. The research involved 557 pupils aged between 12 and 15 years from 9 different Vilnius schools, who have had experience at a dentist’s office. The survey found that CDAS was 9.91 (S.D. 3.03) among the pupils of Vilnius, nearly equal to the CDAS among adolescents of similar age in other countries. A correlation was found between CDAS, DFS, DBS and dental experience. As regards a relation between these indicators and dental decay, a correlation was established between DBS and dental decay (r = .158**), but there is no statistically significant relation with other dental fear indicators.

Key words: prevalence, dental fear, adolescence, trusts in dentists.

Address correspondence to Dr.R.Raciene: Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Institute of Stomatology, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University, 115 Žalgirio str., Vilnius, Lithuania. E-mail: rasa_rac@takas.lt

Received: 29 04 2003

Accepted for publishing: 27 06 2003