Frequency of Fears and Phobia in Clients Reporting for Oral Dental Treatment in A Tertiary Care Dental Hospital of Karachi Pakistan

Wing Commander Muhammad Sami Bilal^*, Beenish Sami & Fatima Taufeeq

Classified Psychiatrist, Aero Medical Institute (AMI), Pakistan Air Force Base Masroor, Karachi, Pakistan

Muhammad Sami Bilal, Classified Psychiatrist, Aero Medical Institute (AMI), Pakistan Air Force Base Masroor, Karachi, Pakistan.

Keywords: Fear of Dentists; Dental Phobia; Dental Surgeon; Dental Procedures; Attitudes

Abstract

Background
Phobia against dental procedures is recognized as an important factor in inhibiting patients from seeking dental treatment.
Objectives
To study the nature and severity of fears of dental procedures in clients seeking dental treatment.
Settings and duration of study
This study was conducted at Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan Institute of Oral Health Sciences (DIKIOHS) Karachi from January 2017 to June 2017.
Settings and duration of study
All adult clients presenting to the out patient’s department (OPD) for minor surgical issues e.g. teeth polishing, dental scaling, tooth extraction, dental filling and root canal treatment (RCT) were approached and briefed about the research study. Those adults who consented to participate in the study were included randomly, while those clients with major or serious dental issues like tooth impaction, widespread periodontal treatment and edentulous were not included in the study. Complying clients were questioned regarding their fears about dental procedures using a structured questionnaire. The information was classified into a Likert scale like 3 replies measuring as strongly fearful, moderately fearful and not fearful.
Results
Total number of clients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were 102 who were included in this study. Dental fear presenting as lack of self-assurance to inquire from the dental surgeon was seen in 22% clients while 89% clients had developed fears from an unscrupulous past run-through at a dentist’s surgery. Erratic levels of dread were observed for all other categories of facilities as well as for the dental surgeon’s approach towards the clients.
Conclusions
Dental surgeons need to realize and spot the existence of dental fears in clients reporting for dental procedures and need to self-cultivate expertise in minimizing phobias.
Guiding principle
To reduce fears and phobia in clients the dental surgeons need to converse more with the patients before undertaking any surgical procedure. This can be achieved readily with the ability to empathize with the clients.

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).