Asif Rehman, Ariffullah Khan, Ihtesham-ud Din, Saffiullah, Arooj Irfan, Junaid Zarif.
Anxiety among Children 5-10 Years of age Visiting Dental Teaching Hospitals in Peshawar City.
J Saidu Med Col Nov ;9(2):243-6.

Background: Dental fear in young children is recognized as a public health problem in many countries. Anxiety among dental patients directly affects their oral hygiene. Objective: To evaluate the level of anxiety among children 5 -10 years of age visiting major dental teaching hospitals in Peshawar city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Material and Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on 300 children attending three major dental teaching hospitals in Peshawar city Pakistan. MCDASf scale was used to assess the level of Anxiety in children. Results: Out of 300 children, only 10 (3.3%) children were non-anxious, 86 (28.7%) were mildly anxious, 99 (33%) were moderately anxious while majority of the patients 105 (35%) were severely anxious. A statistically significant difference was observed between the level of anxiety and different age group (p < 0.01), as the age increases the mean dental anxiety score decreases from 20.49 in the age group 5-7 years to 15.85 in age group 8-10 years. Conclusion: Our study confirms age difference in dental anxiety and found to be lower in older age group. Strategies like recognizing the symptoms before starting any treatment and managing it with counseling and other therapies would have impact in reducing anxiety in younger age group.

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