Pohjola Vesa, Lahti Satu, Vehkalahti Miira M, Tolvanen Mimmi, Hausen Hannu
Department of Community Dentistry, Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Acta Odontol Scand. 2007 Aug;65(4):224-30. doi: 10.1080/00016350701373558.
Our aim was to evaluate the association between dental attendance and dental fear while considering the simultaneous effects of perceived oral health and treatment need, satisfaction with oral health services, age, gender, marital status, and attained level of education.
The two-stage stratified cluster sample (n=8028) represented Finnish adults aged 30 years and older. The response rate to this nationwide sample was 88%. Dental fear was measured with the question: "How afraid are you of visiting a dentist?" Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to determine the association between dental fear and dental attendance, including the following independent variables: perceived oral health, perceived treatment need, satisfaction with oral health services, age, gender, marital status, and attained level of education.
Among all ages, except 30 to 34-year-olds, irregular attenders were more likely to be very afraid of visiting a dentist than regular attenders were. The association was stronger the older the age group. Only age modified the association between dental fear and attendance. Irregular dental attendance can be attributed to high dental fear (etiologic fraction among exposed) in 41% of cases.
Reducing dental fear would increase the number of regular attenders, especially among older age groups. Individuals for whom oral health services have been provided regularly since childhood seem to continue to use these services regularly despite high dental fear.
我们的目的是在考虑口腔健康感知、治疗需求、对口腔健康服务的满意度、年龄、性别、婚姻状况和受教育程度等因素同时作用的情况下，评估看牙就诊率与牙科恐惧之间的关联。
两阶段分层整群样本（n = 8028）代表30岁及以上的芬兰成年人。该全国性样本的应答率为88%。通过“您有多害怕去看牙医？”这一问题来测量牙科恐惧。采用多元逻辑回归分析来确定牙科恐惧与看牙就诊率之间的关联，包括以下自变量：口腔健康感知、治疗需求感知、对口腔健康服务的满意度、年龄、性别、婚姻状况和受教育程度。
在所有年龄段中，除了30至34岁的人群外，不定期就诊者比定期就诊者更有可能非常害怕去看牙医。年龄组越大，这种关联越强。只有年龄改变了牙科恐惧与就诊率之间的关联。在41%的病例中，不定期看牙就诊可归因于高度的牙科恐惧（暴露人群中的病因分数）。
减少牙科恐惧将增加定期就诊者的数量，尤其是在老年人群体中。自童年起就定期接受口腔健康服务的个体，尽管牙科恐惧程度高，但似乎仍会继续定期使用这些服务。
