Dental Anxiety Associates with Pain During Dental Procedures

It is well known by dentists that some patients experience dental anxiety, with some patients have worse dental anxiety than others. In a review article titled “Dental Anxiety Is Considerably Associated With Pain Experience During Dental Procedures,” by Mike T. John, appearing in J Evid Base Dent Pract, 2013, issue 13, pp. 29-30, the issue of dental anxiety in dental patients is explored. The study reviews a study titled “Predictors of pain associated with routine procedures performed in general dental practice,” by Tickle M, Milsom K, Crawford FI, and Aggarwal VR, in Community Dent Oral Epidemiol, 2012 Aug;40(4):343-50. In the original study 508 patients who visit 38 different dentists in England participate. Dental anxiety was measured with the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale which resulted in a score between 4 and 20. This score was grouped into 4 different variables representing … Read more

ADA Straight From the Mouth

The ADA (American Dental Association) has a video podcast series called Straight from the Mouth. The second video is titled “Overcoming Dental Anxiety.” http://ada.org/straightfromthemouth.aspx The press release from the ADA on this podcast was posted in September 28, 2009. http://ada.org/3241.aspx. However, it still says on the Straight from the Mouth Video Podcast that many other videos are coming soon. It seems like the ADA may have decided not to have these podcasts come out or they just haven’t posted them. If anyone has any information let me know. The podcast is hosted by two dentists Ruchi Nijjar Sahota and Eric Grove. It seems appropriate to younger audiences and is upbeat. The video is important for many of those who suffer from dental anxiety. It discusses needles, drills, and water used for dental procedures. Needles of course are used to anesthetize … Read more