Attitude toward death: does it influence dental fear?

The possible influence of fear of death and attitude toward death were studied related to dental anxiety in Hungarian elementary and secondary school subjects (n = 277; 114 males, 163 females; age between 8 and 18 years). Dental fear and anxiety scores were DAS: 10.8 +/- 3.6; DFS: 40.6 +/- 15.6; STAI-S: 38.0 +/- 11.0; STAI-T: 40.3 +/- 10.0. Lester's Attitude Toward Death Scale scores were 6.3 +/- 1.3. Girls scored higher on DAS, STAI-S, and STAI-T scales (P < or = 0.05). Age influenced STAI-S, STAI-T, and Lester's Scale scores (P < or = 0.05). Lester's Scale scores influenced the expectations of the subjects about the dental fear of their surrounding people (parents, brother, sister, friends) (P < or = 0.05). A percentage of 7.22 of the subjects indicated a rather strong connection between dental fear and fear of death. These subjects had significantly higher dental fear and anxiety scores as compared to others (P < or = 0.01). Death-related content was found in 4.3% of drawings and in 10.5% of free associations (couplings) related to teeth (in 12.6% either in drawings or in couplings). The appearance of death-related content was higher with higher age, and higher expected dental fear of surrounding people (P < or = 0.01). Our data indicate a detectable influence of fear of death on dental fear, especially in subjects with higher dental fear scores.

[Initial analysis of tooth drawings of 8-18 years old schoolchildren from normal population]. / Fogat ábrázoló rajzok alapparamétereinek vizsgálata normal populáción, 8-18 éves korcsoportban.

The connection between unconscious subjects and psycho-somatic manifestation is well known in the literature. Although more and more data is known about this connection related to the oro-facial region as well, investigation of this interesting problem is still has theoretical and clinical relevance. To collect more data about this field, 257 of tooth drawings of 8-18 years old schoolchildren from normal population were studied as a pilot to establish further investigations related to drawing-projections in connection with the oro-facial region. This first analysis of the data indicated that, gender correlates significantly with the size of the drawings (p< or =0.05), and localisation of the drawings (p< or =0.05). Differences between elementary schoolchildren and the more mature middle school children were detected as well related to subject (p< or =0.05) and localisation (p< or =0.05) of the drawings.