Introduction
 In a cross-sectional study of women's health in Sweden, Hagglin et al. investigated
dental anxiety and utilization practices, oral health, and oral symptoms of the
participants.1 There was a significant difference in level of dental anxiety related to age
with older women reporting less fear. Liddell et al. examined the relationships of
gender and age on dental anxiety in a Canadian population and found that older adults
reported less painful experiences with dental procedures than younger participants.6 It was
hypothesized that older adults have had more time for good experiences to neutralize
aversive experiences, and this accounted for a lower reporting of pain.
Loss of control has been identified in several studies as another significant predictor of fear.6,8,9 Liddell et al. reported perceived lack of control was the second largest predictor of dental fear and anxiety in their study participants.6 However, women demonstrated significantly greater desire for control than men. The authors concluded that women appear to be at a greater disadvantage than men in their perceived ability to cope in a dental situation because of their greater desire for control, coupled with a lower perception of actual control. They suggest this situation creates a psychological tension in women resulting in greater fear and anxiety. In contrast, older subjects reported less desire for control in the dental setting compared to younger subjects and felt greater control while in the dental environment than younger participants. Similar findings were reported by Law et al., where subjects who had a high desire for control coupled with a low feeling of control were the most dentally anxious.9 |
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The most significant contributor to anxiety for both genders was fear
of pain. Women subjects reported more anxiety about pain than men, but an examination
of predictors of fear/anxiety showed that painful experiences were ranked as greater in
importance for men than women and that intolerance of pain was a significant predictor of
dental anxiety for men alone.