Abstract
We investigated the relationship between past dental treatment experiences and dental fears which patients feel at present using a questionnaire and Visual Analog Scale (VAS). The subjects were eighty-seven students in the school of dentistry. The following conclusions were drawn.
All of the subjects had at least one experience of dental treatment.51.7% experienced some agony with dental treatment.35.7% had not experienced any agony.12.6% could not remember any agony.9% had experienced restraining during dental treatment.
In the valuation of dental fears based on VAS, the minimum value was 0 mm and the maximum was 88 mm, the average was 35.8 mm. Firstly, we looked at the relationship between agony and VAS, the score of that with experience was 42.1 mm, the score of those without experience was 26.4mm. There was a significant difference between the score as those with experience and those without.
Secondly, when we looked at the relationship between restraining and VAS, the score of those with expeience was 53.0 mm, the score of those without experience was 33.3 mm. According to the statistics, the scores of those with experience and without experience of this experienced and the inexperienced showed a significant difference.
The result of this investigation clearly shows that those who had experienced some agony and restraining during dental treatments were affected by this and now experience fear during dental treatment.
