In this study, more than 1,000 participants between the ages of 15 and 32 were studied. The researcher discovered around a quarter of them had dental anxiety condition.

The participants were divided into groups:
people who had experienced dental anxiety throughout their lives (stable anxious)
people who became dentally anxious as a teen (adolescent-onset anxious)
people who became dentally anxious as an adult (adult- onset anxious).

The stable anxious group had all experienced tooth decay around 5 years old, the adult-onsets had lost teeth around the age of 26 to 32, and teen-onsets had their issues at around 15 years old.

Professor Murray Thomson, research leader, examined the characters of the dentally anxious participants and he found that they usually had a 'glass-half-empty' approach to life and usually were anxious about several things – heights, spiders etc.

Usually people become increasingly anxious through constantly steering clear of the dentist until their dental situation became much worse, he said.

The professor made the point that by this time the anxious patients would need the more unpleasant treatments that then reinforced their anxiety and would push them to further limits to avoid the dentist when new problems arose.

It was found that the stable anxious group would have around 22 missing, decayed or filled teeth by 32-years-old, when non-anxious people would have around 13.

The study also discovered that some people became dentally anxious as a teen but as they got older, they became less anxious.

Peoples with dental anxiety are so afraid of dental visit. They would evade treatment at all costs until the situation became really serious.

Professor Thomson claimed that the research has implications both for public and dental professionals. It could give dentists an idea of the causes of dental anxiety.

He also said that it was important that the people understood the more they avoided the dentist, the more they would become scared and that more damage would be done to their teeth.


Source: Bad oral health is stress related, say experts