State of play of odontophobia in the urban commune of Toliara
1 Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Center Tuléar, Madagascar.
2 Department of conservative endodontics, Institute of Tropical Odontostomatology of Madagascar, University of MahajangA, Madagascar.
3 Department of Stomatology, University Hospital Center Tuléar, Madagascar.
4 Department of intensive care anesthesia, Faculty of Medicine of Toliara, University of Toliara, Madagascar.
5 Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of Antananarivo, University of Antananarivo, Madagascar.
Research Article
International Journal of Scientific Research Updates, 2023, 06(02), 044–051.
Article DOI: 10.53430/ijsru.2023.6.2.0077
Publication history:
Received on 08 November 2023; revised on 26 December 2023; accepted on 29 December 2023
Abstract:
Introduction: Dental anxiety is omnipresent in our society. “Fear of the dentist” often leads patients to let their teeth deteriorate rather than go to a dental office. The objective of this study was to evaluate odontophobia among dental consultants at University Hospital Toliara as well as associated factors
Methods: This is a prospective, analytical study carried out with dental consultants at Antanambao Toliara University Hospital. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) was used to determine the presence of dental phobia.
Results: 96.92% of patients were included in the study, the age of the patients varied between 18 to 71 years, 39.68% were in the age group 18 to 25 years; 67.46% were of the feminine gender. The patients presented dental phobia in 39.68% of cases. Socio-professional status was associated with the occurrence of dental phobia (p=0.008). The anxiety-provoking factors observed were: anesthesia (p=0.000), fear of pain (p=0.001), noise from instruments (p=0.003), drilling (p=0.04), extraction dental (p=0.000) and view of instruments (p=0.000). A significant statistical difference was observed between avoidance of oral check-ups, avoidance of dental care, negative effects on oral health and the MDSA scale.
Conclusion: Odontophobia is a reality. Identifying patients as early as possible as well as knowing the factors associated with its occurrence could improve the quality of care in the dental environment.
Keywords:
Screening; Epidemiology; Madagascar; Odontophobia
Full text article in PDF:
Copyright information:
Copyright © 2023 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0