The prevalence of dental anxiety in patients of a university dental clinic

Dental anxiety remains a pervasive barrier to dental treatment for many individuals, including college-age patients. In this article, the author reviews dental anxiety and examines the usefulness of assessment instruments for identifying dental anxiety. Using 2 unique assessment instruments, he examines the prevalence of dental anxiety in his university dental clinic's patient population. The 2 assessment instruments were determined to be equally effective in identifying anxious dental patients. Both instruments revealed that the average patient surveyed had low-to-mild dental anxiety. The results of this survey concur with those of previous studies of college-populations.