Assessment of Dental Fear and Anxiety

Excessive fear of dental treatment is frequently encountered in children, and has several negative consequences.It can be very stressful for both dentist and child and may result in irregular or no visits to the dentist at all, which bears a negative impact on the child's oral health. Dental fear can also interfere with rendering effective dental treatment for the child.In children, dental fear is often the main reason of behavioural management problems. Other negative consequences of dental fear include avoidance of the dental situation and subsequently deterioration of oral health. This eventually may start a vicious circle of avoidance, creating feelings of shame, guilt and inferiority, further maintaining this negative spiral by reinforcing one's fear and avoidance behaviour. A wide range of instruments were proposed and applied to identify and quantify dental anxiety/fear. The use of these measures helps to identify fearful individuals and take necessary steps to modify treatment plan in accordance with the needs.