A questionnaire survey on the effect of the sound of dental drills on the feeling of patients in dental clinics

A questionnaire survey was conducted with 559 people to examine the effects of the sound of a dental high-speed air turbine on patient's feeling and to assess the relationship between the dental air turbine sound and dental anxiety level. The dental high-speed air turbine (drill) is an indispensable apparatus in dental treatment. The contents included dental anxiety, unpleasant feeling at a dental clinic, experience of avoiding dental treatment, habituation to noise, and face sheet. The results of the survey showed that there was individual differences in terms of unpleasant feeling to the sound of the drill and the fear of the sound of the drill had a strong influence on dental anxiety level. It is necessary to take care of the sound of dental drills to reduce the fear of patients from visiting a dental clinic. The analyses of frequency spectra of air-conducted sound and bone-conducted sound under dental treatment showed that each sound included audible and ultrasonic frequencies.