| Abstract [eng] |
Relevance of the problem. Dental anxiety, fear or phobia leads to postponement of dental treatment, which in turn has direct impact on oral health. Origins and causes of dental anxiety are rooted in patient's personality, so dentist needs to predict patient's behaviour and possible reactions to treatment process. The aim of the study. To clarify main causes of dental anxiety concerning psychological types of patients. Material and methods. Research used anonymous survey method. Questionnaire consisted of general questions, five-factor model to determine psychological types, modified dental anxiety scale. Questionnaires were distributed in Centro Polyclinic of Vilnius. 106 respondents answered. IBM SPSS version 29.0.0.0 (241) was used for statistical analysis. χ2 test, analysis of variance ANOVA, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis test were used. Differences were considered statistically significant at margin of error of 5 percent. Results. Highest proportion of respondents is characterised by conscientiousness (53.8 percent) and sincerity (47.3 percent), lowest proportion – extraversion (28.2 percent) and neuroticism (25.4 percent). Highest income respondents have highest level of conscientiousness. 43.4 percent of patients experience dental anxiety, 5.7 percent – dental phobia. Highest prevalence of dental phobia was observed among patients aged 18-28. As patient's education increases, experience of dental anxiety decreases. In 53.6 percent of patients experiencing dental anxiety or phobia, cause of fear is pain. Dental anxiety depends on anxiety and fear experienced during treatment, dental phobia depends on negative experience. Patients (100 percent) who’s dental anxiety was unexplained with no cause had high neuroticism. Patients (100 percent) who reported negative experience as cause of dental anxiety had low extraversion. Patients (100 percent) who reported uncertainty as cause of dental anxiety showed moderate conscientiousness. 66.7 percent of patients who reported fear and anxiety as cause of dental anxiety had moderate agreeableness. No statistically significant relationship was observed between other causes of dental anxiety and presence of psychological types. Conclusions. Conscientiousness and agreeableness dominate. Subjects with dental anxiety have pain as cause of fear. With increase in patient’s age likelihood of experiencing dental anxiety increases, experiencing dental phobia decreases. The higher the level of education, the less anxiety patients experience. High neuroticism is associated with unexplained, unreasonable dental fear. Low extraversion is related to anxiety resulting from negative experiences. Medium agreeableness is related to anxiety due to feelings of anxiety and fear. Openness does not influence causes of patient's dental anxiety. Key words. Dental anxiety, dental phobia, fear of dentistry, psychological types, The Big Five. |
