dental anxiety: the prevalence and related factors among 7-14-year-old children in yazd, iran

Background: dental anxiety/fear in children is a main reason for the problems in their behavior management and avoiding dental care. this study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and level of dental anxiety/fear in iranian children and adolescents as well as its related factors. methods: 330 children aged 7-14 participated in this study and answered the questionnaire of children’s fear schedule-dental subscale (cfss-ds). data were analyzed using chi-square and split-half tests. results: dental anxiety prevalence was 20.6% in 7-11 year-olds and 11% in 12-14 year-olds (p=0.001). this value was 17.6% in girls and 14% in boys (p=0.01). mean of the anxiety score was 29.3 - 7.6 in boys and 31.4 - 7.6 in girls (p=0.015). prevalence of dental anxiety was 19.7% in the participants without previous dental experience and 8.6% in those with this experience (p=0.001). the mean anxiety score was 31.3 - 7.6 in children without previous dental experience and 28.6 - 7.3 in those with previous experience (p=0.002). the concomitant factors significantly related to high dental anxiety were injection and choking sensation. conclusions: dental anxiety is more in girls and children without previous dental experience, and it decreases with increasing age. injection and choking sensation are related to high dental anxiety.