PREVALENCE OF DENTAL ANXIETY AMONG PATIENTS OF ORTHODONTICS INVOLVING NEUROLOGICAL COMPLEX INTERPLAY BETWEEN BRAIN EMOTIONAL AND COGNITIVE CENTER

Abstract

Objective: The objective was to determine the prevalence of anxiety and neurlogical response among patient reporting for orthodontic treatment. Material and methods: This survey was conducted on 120 orthodontic patients through non-probability sampling technique. The inclusion criteria were patients receiving fixed orthodontic treatment, both gender and Pakistani nationals. Patients receiving treatment from psychiatrists and having dentofacial deformity were excluded. Anxiety was recorded by using dental anxiety scale (DAS) of Norman Corah. Chi-square test was run for comparing anxiety level among genders and age groups. Results: The females (n=74, 61.7%) were more than males (n=46, 38.3%). The mean age of the participants was 21.19±4.52 years. The most common type of anxiety among orthodontic patients was mild (n=62. 51.67%) and moderate (n=41, 34.17%). The least type of anxiety was severe and found in 6(5%) cases. Conclusion: Dental anxiety is quiet frequent in patients receiving orthodontic treatment. As hypocampus plays the significant role in processing emotions including anxiety related to pain induced by orthodontic patient .when patient experience pain it can trigger a stress response in the brain which release stress hormone ,cortisol which increased anxiety and fear Anxiety among orthodontic patients has no statistical association with gender and age.