Variations in negative cognitions concerning dental treatment among dentally anxious and nonanxious individuals

This study investigated the relationship between negative cognitions and de ntal anxiety in a sample drawn from the general population. Previous work s howing that dentally anxious individuals have more negative thoughts concer ning dental treatment and are less able to control those thoughts than the nonanxious was confirmed. However there was variation within dentally anxio us and nonanxious groups in the frequency of negative cognitions. Some dent ally anxious individuals reported few negative thoughts about dental treatm ent and some nonanxious individuals reported many. In a series of analyses using scores from seven psychological questionnaires, those with many negat ive thoughts about dental treatment were more likely to be generally fearfu l and anxious and had more psychiatric symptoms irrespective of their denta l anxiety status. When dentally anxious and nonanxious subjects with the hi ghest negative cognitions scores were compared, the main difference to emer ge was that the latter were better able than the former to control their ne gative thoughts. These results suggest that negative cognitions about denta l treatment are influenced by broader psychological factors and that contro l remains an important mediator between negative thoughts and dental anxiet y. They also suggest that negative cognitions play a role in fear evocation and are not simply a component of the anxiety response.