Health andDevelopment Study, Department ofPaediatrics andChildHealth, TheUniversity ofOtago, Dunedin, New Zealand; *to whomcorrespondence should beaddressed Abstract. Little isunderstood ofthenatural history ofdental anxiety. Theaimofthis studywastoexamine three-year changes inself-reported dental anxiety amongadolescent participants intheDunedinMultidisciplinar y Health and Development Study.
... [Show full abstract] Dental anxiety wasestimated atages 15and18bymeansoftheCorahDental Anxiety Scale (DAS). A DASscore of13+defined highdental anxiety. Participants wereassigned tooneoffourdental-anxiety studygroups (Chronic, Incident, Remitted, orNever) onthe basis ofchanges inreported level ofanxiety fromages15to 18.Results arereported forthe691participants who completed theDAS atbothages. Thesample's overall dental anxiety scoredecreased significantly fromage15 (mean, 8.79) to18(8.52) (paired ttest, t=2.37; P