Dental Anxiety in Patients in Lahore Medical and Dental College: A Cross Sectional Study

Objective: To assess the prevalence and level of dental anxiety in patients reporting to the Outpatient Department in Lahore Medical and Dental College. Study Design: A Cross Sectional Comparative Study. Place and Duration of Study: The Outpatient Department of Lahore Medical and Dental College during the months of August and September 2019. Materials and Methods: A total of 300 patients were assessed for dental anxiety utilizing Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale. The qualitative variables were described as frequencies and percentages and the quantitative variables were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Data was subjected to descriptive statistical analysis and significance testing between the variables was done using Independent samples T t test and Analysis of variance (Anova). Level of significance was set at 0.05. Results: Dental anxiety was prevalent in 29.7% patients, mostly children with a mean dental anxiety score of 7.23 (±3.78). The incidence of dental anxiety among the patients was 70.3% non-anxious, 15.3 % moderate anxiety, 6.7 % high anxiety and 7.7 % severe anxiety. Females recorded a higher mean Dental Anxiety Score, 7.89 (±4.07) as compared to males 6.44 (±3.39). There was a highly significant (p