Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine the hypothesis that the long-term caries preventive program can prevent the occurrence of dental fear. Subjects and methods: The Japanese version of the Dental Subscale of Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS) and the additional items measuring fear of returning to the dentists were given to 107 child patients aged 12-18 years with a mean age of 14.4 ± 1.4 (57 boys,54 girls; mean age at their first visit to the dental clinic was 4.2 ± 3.0years), who had visited Okamoto Pediatric Dental Clinics incet heire arlyc hildhood until the ages of junior-high or high school.
Results: The mean total CFSS-DS score was 22.8±8.0. Fear levels were lower in this group than in the other Japanese group reported in the previouss tudy, and showed dentalf earl evels very close to thoser eported in the Scandinavian countries(23.1 from Sweden,22.1 from Finland). Girlss howed more fear than boys (24,1v s.21.8), but therew as no statisticsailg nificancbee tween them. Drilling, choking, i njectiontsh, e noiseo f dentistd rillinhga, ving somebody put instruments in your mouth, the sight of the dentistd rillincga used the most common fears. The mean total CFSS-DS score corresponded to the fear of returning to the dentist.The childrenw ho were not afraid of dentistrwye re more likely to return to thed entists.
Conclusion: The results of thiss tudy supportedt he hypothesist hatt he long-termc ariesp reventive program may prevent the occurrence of dental fear.
