Understanding Anxiety in Dental Patient

What is it about?

The dental chairside assistant or the dental nurse is most often the first contact of the dental patient with the dental environment. It is very important that the dental chairside assistant understands the concept of anxiety and learns to alleviate it in the patient. Anxiety is defined as an emotion resulting from an inner turmoil which is unpleasant. Pacing, complaining, clenching of hands are common features of anxious behaviour. In certain situations, it has been observed that anxiety is a trait in some people. It maybe inbuilt in their personality. Such a person may have exaggerated response to mildly provoking situations. The objective method of assessing dental anxiety is by measuring blood pressure, heart rate, cortisol levels in saliva or by ectodermal activity. The subjective methods of anxiety measurement are many. To name a few a) Facial affective scale b) Dental anxiety questionnaire C) Speilberger’s state – trait anxiety inventory d) Corah’s scale etc. They must be capable enough to manage or reduce the anxiety of patient by their conduct and mannerisms in dental operatory.

Featured Image

Photo by Andrey Metelev on Unsplash

Photo by Andrey Metelev on Unsplash

Why is it important?

understanding the dental anxiety to allay the dental related phobias and help in various behaviour management.