Research Article Open Access Volume 2 • Issue 3 • 1000137 J Depress Anxiety ISSN: 2167-1044 JDA an open access journal Open Access Research Article Bhalla et al., J Depress Anxiety 2013, 2:3 DOI: 10.4172/2167-1044.1000137 Keywords: Anxiety; MDAS; Dental Introduction Dental anxiety is a common problem both for dental practitioners and the people and aficts a signifcant proportion of people of all ages from diferent social classes and ofen results in poor oral health by complete avoidance of dental treatment, irregular dental attendance or poor co-operation. Dental anxiety is based on several factors like family and social environment, general fearfulness, pain and traumatic, unpleasant experiences. Patient perceptions of behaviours and attitudes of dentists can afect dental anxiety and could infuence his or her decision to access dental care [1]. It is therefore becomes imperative to assess the dental anxiety quantitatively and qualitatively and its associated factors. Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by somatic, emotional, cognitive, and behavioural components [2]. Anxiety is considered to be a normal reaction to a stressor. Physical efects of anxiety may include heart palpitations, muscle weakness and tension, fatigue, nausea, chest pain, shortness of breath, stomach aches, or headaches and digestive system functions are inhibited (the fght or fight response). Emotional efects may include “feelings of apprehension or dread, trouble concentrating, feeling tense or jumpy, anticipating the worst, irritability, restlessness, and, feeling like your mind’s gone blank as well as “nightmares/bad dreams. Various scientists [3-5] have conducted surveys in populations of diferent countries and reported [6] various types of dental anxiety ranging from mild, moderate to severe. None of the available literature from the studies conducted by other workers [7-10] shows dental anxiety varied among diferent age groups and difers among genders [11]. Usually more anxiety is observed in older population and in females. Dental Anxiety score was found to vary for those who visited a dentist for tooth removal followed by cleaning, flling and dental check- *Corresponding author: Anindya Bhalla, Department of Public Health Dentistry, & Nims Dental College Shobha Nagar, N.H.11-C Jaipur – 303121 Rajasthan, India, E-mail: anindya.bhalla@gmail.com Received July 21, 2013; Accepted September 17, 2013; Published September 20, 2013 Citation: Bhalla A, Singh SB, Sujata , Singh A, Choudhary A (2013) Self- Assessment of Dental Anxiety in Patients Visiting Comprehensive Rural Health Service Project. J Depress Anxiety 2: 137. doi: 10.4172/2167-1044.1000137 Copyright: © 2013 Bhalla A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Self-Assessment of Dental Anxiety in Patients Visiting Comprehensive Rural Health Service Project Anindya Bhalla 1 *, Sukriti Bhalla Singh 2 , Sujata 3 , Ashish Singh 4 and Ajay Choudhary 5 1 Department of Public Health Dentistry & Nims Dental College Shobha Nagar, N.H.11-C Jaipur – 303121 Rajasthan, India 2 Department of Internal Medicine & Shri Dada Dev Matriavum Shishu Chikitsalya, Dabri, Delhi -110045 New Delhi, India 3 Department of Oral Diagnosis & KG Chopra Dental Clinic, Jaipur,-302004, Rajasthan, India 4 Department of Family Medicine & Room 10, community Health centre (CHC) District Shyamli, -251319 Uttar Pradesh, India 5 Department of Conservative & Endotics Dentistry& Nims Dental College Shobha Nagar, N.H.11-C Jaipur – 303121 Rajasthan, India up [12] and study by [13] showed association of anxiety with avoidance of care and lack of regular dental appointments. Modifed Dental anxiety scale [14] enabled to assess dental anxiety and relationship with perceived health locus of control among students in an Indian dental school but no such assessment was done in lower strata population with less education, especially in this part of the country. We therefore undertook this study with an Aim to assess the level of dental anxiety amongst new patient’s visiting dental OPD of Ballabgarh which would provide information on the patient approach towards dental treatment at that centre. Te Objective of the study was – • To assess the level of dental anxiety in patients visiting comprehensive rural health hospital using Modifed Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) Questionnaire. • To assess and compare the dental anxiety score with various socio-demographic factors. Subjects and Methods • Te present study was a cross- sectional, questionnaire study Abstract Aims: The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence, severity and associations of dental anxiety in a sample of the adult population visiting comprehensive Rural Health Service Department, Ballabgarh (Haryana). Methods and material: A sample of 379 adults (age ranging between 15 to 60 years; mean age male = 35.89 ± 14.10 and female 35.01 ± 12.38). The Modifed Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) is a brief, self-complete questionnaire consisting of fve questions (Q1 to Q5) and summed together to produce a total score ranging from 1 to 5. Statistical analysis used: SSP version 16 software, the percentage, means and standard deviation. Results: The results revealed that females were more apprehensive, compare to men. Based on distribution of anxiety according to age group, males between the age group 15 to 23 and 24 to 33 belonged fairly anxious group and only slight anxiety was observed in higher age group (44 to 53 yr). On the other hand, females were found to be very anxious at higher age group of 24-33 and 34-43. Conclusions: It is recommended that dental education and health care services should be promoted to overcome the fear/anxiety factor. Journal of Depression and Anxiety J o u r n a l o f D e p r e s s i o n a n d A n x i e t y ISSN: 2167-1044