Relation to Sociodemographic Factors and Habits with Dental Anxiety, Dental Fear, and Quality of Life among Students of Different Faculties

Ab s t r Ac t Aim and objective: The study aimed to compare the dental fear, dental anxiety, and oral health-related quality of life of students of the faculty of dentistry, medical faculty, and other faculties and to examine the relationship between these variables and the demographic data and habits of individuals. Materials and methods: The study involving 1,230 (725 females, 505 males) students from Faculty of Dentistry (n = 439), medicine (n = 498), and other faculties (n = 293) studying at Kırıkkale University. Individuals have applied a questionnaire consisting of questions on oral hygiene habits, dentist visits, smoking and alcohol use in the first part and Dental Fear Scale (DFS), Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS), and Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) in the second part. Results: Dental fear scale, MDAS, and OHIP-14 scores showed a statistically significant difference between faculties (p < 0.05). The difference between medical students and other faculty students was not significant. Modified Dental Anxiety Scale scores were found to be significantly higher in females than in males (p = 0.005). There was no significant difference in MDAS, DFS, and OHIP-14 between different education years in medicine and other faculties. Conclusions: Dental anxiety, fear levels of dentistry students were lower than other students of other faculties and their quality of life was higher. Dentistry education and the year of education have been found to have a potential impact on the dental anxiety, fear, and quality of life of the individuals.