Dental anxiety in first- and final-year Indian dental students

Abstract Objectives The study aims to investigate dental anxiety in first- and final-year undergraduate dental students in India. Design Questionnaire Study Setting: BDS Students in four University dental colleges in India carried-out during 2013 and 2014. Subjects (materials and methods) The students (n = 614) were assessed using a pre-tested questionnaire. We estimated the level of dental anxiety by using the Modified-Dental-Anxiety-Scale (MDAS). ANCOVA and Mann–Whitney U, and Chi-squared contingency tests were employed to analyze the extensive dataset acquired. Univariate clustering analysis and principal component regression were also applied. Students had similar demographic and lifestyle patterns. Interventions Assessments of the level of dental anxiety amongst undergraduate dental students. Main outcome measures Mean ± SD MDAS scores for first- and final-year Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) students were 12.96 ± 4.00 and 10.54 ± 3.41, respectively. Results Six hundred and fourteen (n = 614) students from four dental colleges were included in this study. In total 77% were female (n = 478) and 23% were male (n = 136). The mean age of the first- and final-year students were 18.31 and 21.54 years, respectively. First-year BDS students had dental anxiety score (Mean ± SD 12.96 ± 4.00) compared to that of the final year (10.54 ± 3.41), a difference which was very highly statistically significant (p  Conclusion(s) Dental anxiety was moderately higher amongst first year BDS students over that of final-year students but it is lesser than the dental phobic threshold level.