A dental fears typology of oral surgery patients: matching patients to anxiety interventions.

Two studies are described in which dental patients were administered the Dental Fear Survey (DFS) and then received 1 of 5 anxiety reduction interventions to prepare them for extraction of 3rd-molar teeth. Interventions included standard clinic treatment, oral premedication, and several relaxation-based procedures. Dependent variables were self-reported and observer-rated distress. In the 1st study (N = 231), cluster analyses of the DFS subscales revealed that patients could be subtyped as low-fear, high-fear, or cue-anxious patients who admitted fear only in response to specific stimuli. Dental fear subtypes were distinguishable by situational cognitions reported, and fear subtype interacted with anxiety intervention to predict distress. These results were replicated in the 2nd study (N = 150). The results are seen as supportive of a multidimensional view of dental anxiety.