Children's dental anxiety: influence of personality and intelligence factors.

Forty children (20 boys and 20 girls) aged 8-16 years with no previous experience of dental visits were included in the study. Three psychological variables were determined: anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory of Children), personality (Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Junior) and intelligence (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children). The relationship between personality and intelligence factors and the levels of anxiety at the beginning of the first dental visit (before treatment) and at the end of the third visit (after treatment) were determined. There was no significant relationship between levels of dental anxiety and age. Dental anxiety both before and after treatment was higher among the girls than among the boys. Children with high intelligence quotients showed less dental anxiety at their first dental visit. There was no relationship between the children's anxiety and their own personality variables.