Trauma-related phenomena in anxious dental patients

Objectives: The main purpose of this descriptive study was to investigate whether dental anxiety is associated with the occurrence of trauma-related symptoms (i.e. recurrent memories and a tendency to avoid these memories) associated with earlier traumatic dental experiences. Methods: A sample of 37 consecutive anxious patients attending a dental fear clinic was assessed prior to dental treatment. The results were compared with those of a sample of 32 consecutive patients of a general dental practice, who served as a reference group. Results: The proportion of patients who indicated they had had a horrific dental experience at least once in their life did not significantly differ between the anxious group and the reference group. Conversely, significantly more patients (76%) in the anxious group reported suffering from memories of these events. They also showed a higher level of trauma-related symptomatology as indexed by the Impact of Event Scale (IES). About half of the anxious patients suffered from symptoms typically reported by patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Severity of dental anxiety showed a high correlation with both frequency of intrusions (r = 0.64, P < 0.001) and avoidance of the memories (r = 0.62, P < 0.001). Conclusions: The results suggest that in anticipation of treatment dentally anxious individuals suffer from a high level of intrusive recollections of earlier dental experiences.