A radiographic study of dental health in adult patients with dental anxiety.

The objective of this study was to compare the dental health in a group of 90 patients with severe dental fear (FP), aged 20-41, with that of a matched control group of ordinary dental patients (OP). All registrations were made from radiographic intraoral full mouth surveys. Mean number of missing teeth among FP and OP patients was 4.4 and 2.5, respectively. On average, FP patients had 19.5 decayed surfaces compared to 7.9 in OP patients. Mean number of filled surfaces was 13.1 and 8.1 in OP and FP patients, respectively. FP patients, on average, had significantly more periradicular bone lesions as well as pronounced marginal bone loss than OP patients. This study showed that dental fear patients in general have a substantially deteriorated dental health compared to ordinary dental patients. Moreover, different dental care habits were evident between FP and OP patients. A progressive severity in dental disease pattern was found among FP patients.