Influence of the previous dental visit experience in seeking dental care among young adults
Ananthalekshmy Rajeev, Basavaraj Patthi, Chandrasekhar Janakiram, Ashish Singla, Ravneet Malhi, Monika Kumari
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Dental fear is one of the highly prevalent types of fear which deters patients from seeking dental cares. AIM: This study aims to assess the influence of a previous dental visit experience for seeking dental care among adults. METHODOLOGY: = 150, 15-26 years) with previous dental visit for care were selected randomly among outpatients' visit in tertiary dental teaching hospital. To assess the influence of previous experience of dental visit in seeking care, we self-administered a Post-traumatic Check List-Civilian Version [posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)], an Autobiographical Memory Questionnaire (AMQ), and a Dental Fear Survey (DFS). The relationship of negative and positive experience of previous dental treatment, dental fear, and symptoms of PTSD was assessed using Pearson's correlations. Spearman's rho was used to find out the correlation between the DFS and PCL-C and history of dental treatment undergone. RESULTS: < 0.05) with characteristics of the most negative memory. Spearman's correlation between the DFS and the PCL-C was also statistically significant, r (150) =0.365, indicating that dental fear is indeed associated with symptoms of PTSD. CONCLUSION: There is a significant association between the characteristics of the most negative experiences of dental treatment and increased dental fear in young adults, while positive experiences did not show the inverse relationship with dental fear.