DENTAL ANXIETY AND ILLNESS BEHAVIOR

Background: To analyse the relationship between dental anxiety and ill ness behaviour. Methods: Dental anxiety was assessed in 165 patients f rom private practice using the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), aspects of illness behaviour were evaluated by the Illness Attitude Scale (IAS), and aspects of general anxiety were analysed by the State Trait Anxiet y Inventory (STAI). Dental status was documented using the DMFS index and Bleeding-on-Probing index (BOP). Results: Multiple regression anal ysis (explained proportion of variance = 32%) showed that dental anxie ty was significantly correlated with female gender (t = 3.109, p < 0.0 02) and IAS health habits (t = -2.210, p < 0.03). In addition, a corre lation trend was found between dental anxiety and BOP index (t = -1.78 9, p < 0.08). Conclusion: Dental anxiety appears to be a gender-specif ic phenomenon. Results indicate a tendency towards abnormal illness be haviour (i.e. denial of dental anxiety) in a considerable proportion o f subjects and as a consequence display of poor health habits (i.e. co unterphobic behaviour). The latter may lead to an increased tendency t o develop gingivitis as indicated by the correlation trend between den tal anxiety and BOP index.