ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE OF DENTAL ANXIETY - THE ROLE OF CONDITIONING EXPERIENCES AND COGNITIVE-FACTORS

This study presents a contribution to the understanding of the mechani sms that are involved in the development and maintenance of dental anx iety. Subjects were 224 undergraduate psychology students who complete d questionnaires regarding dental anxiety, painful and traumatic exper iences, negative cognitions, dental beliefs, and how their attitude to dental treatment had changed during their life. The results showed th at both the extent to which earlier dental treatments wee perceived as painful and the extent to which these incidents were reported as trau matic were significantly related to dental anxiety. Evidence was also found to support the latent inhibition hypothesis, which predicts that patients less easily acquire dental anxiety in case they received a n umber of relatively painless treatments prior to conditioning. Both fi ndings confirmed those earlier obtained by Davey in a conceptually sim ilar design (Behaviour Research and Therapy, 27, 51-58, 1989). In addi tion, frequency of negative cognitions about dental treatment and dent al anxiety appeared to be positively related (r = 0.74; P < 0.001). Si gnificant differences were found between highly anxious Ss and Ss show ing low levels of anxiety on a variety of expectations and beliefs rel ated to undergoing dental treatment. The results are discussed in term s of a cognitive-behavioural perspective of dental anxiety.