Abstract

This study was aimed at assessing the prevalence and severity of dental anxiety among middle school children and their caregivers in Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was conducted with 518 middle school children aged 11 to 15 years and 88 caregivers in the city of Jeddah. The Norman Corah’s Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) was used to measure dental anxiety among the study group as well as a questionnaire asking about specific dental procedures. Nearly 34% of participating children had high and sever dental anxiety. There was a positive correlation between DAS in caregivers and that in their children (r = 0.34, p = 0.001). Children were mostly anxious about teeth extractions while caregivers were anxious about root canal treatment. Dental anxiety was significantly associated with gender and school type (p = 0.05 each). Female children demonstrated significantly greater DAS compared to males (p = 0.05) and were also more anxious about most specific dental procedures in the provided questionnaire. Children in public schools showed more severe anxiety than those in private schools (p = 0.05). Dental anxiety in middle school children is high and correlated with that of their caregivers and is associated with gender and school type.

Key words: Anxiety, children, caregivers.