Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of immediate or delayed operation on dental anxiety and dental fear in patients with impacted wisdom teeth.

Material and methods: 40 patients who referred for wisdom tooth extraction and did not extract wisdom tooth before were divided into two groups randomly. 20 of the patients tooth extraction was made on the indication day. 20 of the patients were given an appointment for tooth extraction. Spielberger Stait-Trait dental anxiety scale, dental fear scale and visual analog scale was used to evaluate the dental anxiety and dental fear. Wallis test, Mann Whitney U test, Friedman test, Wilcoxon test were used for the evaluation of the study data.

Results: The patients who extracted their tooth on the day they applied to the faculty have shown significantly lower State Trate Anxiety Scale Score than the other group (p<0,05). Dental anxiety level of the female patients significantly higher than males (p<0,05). Pain scores of patients with high dental anxiety were also significantly higher (p<0,05).

Conclusion: Giving an appointment for the wisdom tooth extraction can increase the anxiety and pain levels of patients, and it will be beneficial for patients to perform the operations immediately.

Keywords: dental anxiety, dental fear, state anxiety scale, dental fear scale, visual analog scale