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KMID : 0355420100340010083
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Journal of Korean Academy of Oral Health
2010 Volume.34 No. 1 p.83 ~ p.87
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Dental anxiety and the associated factors and caries experience among adolescents of elementary and middle schools in Changwon, Korea
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Cho Hyun-Jin
Kim Min-Ji
Ha Jung-Eun
Bae Kwang-Hak
Han Dong-Hun
Kim Jin-Bom
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Abstract
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Objectives: The purposes of this study were to measure the dental anxiety, to analyze the factors associated with dental anxiety and to investigate the caries prevalence according to the level of dental anxiety among the adolescents in Changwon city.
Methods: The subjects were 4,143 elementary (5th and 6th grades) and middle school students. Among them, the number of male students was 2,246 (54.2%). All the subjects gave the responses of the questionnaire composed of a 4-item dental anxiety scale and questions on gender, age, the first dental visit and the experiences with primary prevention of dental caries. They also received an oral examination. The association of dental anxiety with demographic factors and oral behavioral factors was analyzed by the chi square method and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The differences of caries prevalence between the high and low dental anxiety groups were analyzed by Student’s t-test.
Results: The prevalence of high dental anxiety might be 2.2 times higher in the female students than that in the males, 1.4 times higher in the middle school students than that in the elementary school students, 1.7 times higher in the subjects who visited dental clinic before entering elementary school than that in the subjects who had not experienced a dental visit and 1.4 times higher in the subjects who had not experienced primary oral prevention than that in the subjects who had. The subjects who felt high dental anxiety had more decayed teeth than those who felt low dental anxiety.
Conclusions: The present study suggested that the dental anxiety could be reduced by primary oral prevention of caries.
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KEYWORD
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caries prevalence, dental anxiety
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