Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2015 Jun;15(2):53-61.
doi: 10.17245/jdapm.2015.15.2.53. Epub 2015 Jun 30.

Dental fear & anxiety and dental pain in children and adolescents; a systemic review

Youn-Soo Shim  1 , Ah-Hyeon Kim  2 , Eun-Young Jeon  3 , So-Youn An  4
Affiliations
Review

Dental fear & anxiety and dental pain in children and adolescents; a systemic review

Youn-Soo Shim et al. J Dent Anesth Pain Med. 2015 Jun.

Abstract

Background: There are few previous studies investigating the relationship of dental fear and anxiety (DFA) with dental pain among children and adolescents. To address this issue, we examined the literature published between November 1873 and May 2015 to evaluate the prevalence of DFA and dental pain among children and adolescents, and their relationships with age and sex.

Methods: We performed a broad search of the PubMed database using 3 combinations of the search terms dental fear, anxiety, and dental pain and prevalence. A large proportion of the identified articles could not be used for the review due to inadequate end points or measures, or because of poor study design. Thirty-two papers of acceptable quality were identified and reviewed.

Results: We found that the prevalence of DFA was estimated to be 10%, with a decrease in prevalence with age. It was more frequently seen in girls, and was related to dental pain.

Conclusions: We concluded that dental fear, anxiety, and pain are common, and several psychological factors are associated with their development. In order to better understand these relationships, further clinical evaluations and studies are required.

Keywords: Adolescent; Child; Dental Anxiety; Dental Fear; Pain; Prevalence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1. The flow of the literature selection process
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. 4th ed. Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press; 1994.
    1. Alvesalo I, Murtomaa H, Milgrom P, Honkanen A, Karjalainen M, Tay KM. The dental fear survey schedule: a study with Finnish children. Int J Paediatr Dent. 1993;3:193–198. - PubMed
    1. Corah NL. Development of a dental anxiety scale. J Dent Res. 1969;48:596. - PubMed
    1. Klingberg G, Broberg AG. Dental fear/anxiety and dental behaviour management problems in children and adolescents: a review of prevalence and concomitant psychological factors. Int J Paediatr Dent. 2007;17:391–406. - PubMed
    1. Lautch H. Dental Phobia. Br J Psychiatry. 1971;119:151–158. - PubMed