Vermaire J H, de Jongh Ad, Aartman Irene H A
Department of Social Dentistry and Behavioural Sciences, Academic Centre for Dentistry Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2008 Oct;36(5):409-16. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0528.2007.00416.x.
The aim of the present study was to determine the association between dental anxiety and quality of life (QoL) and to test the hypothesis that treatment of highly anxious patients would significantly enhance QoL.
Subjects were 35 highly anxious dental patients of a Dutch dental fear clinic who were assessed on dental trait anxiety (DAS and S-DAI) and QoL (oral health-related QoL with the use of OHIP-14, dental anxiety-related QoL with the SADAS, and general aspects of QoL using Global Assessment of Functioning, while five different aspects of life satisfaction were quantified on a VAS-scale) both prior to and after treatment (an average of six sessions of 45-60 minutes each). Also, both objective (DMFT and dentists' judgement) and subjective (patients' judgement) indices of oral health status were recorded.
Higher dental anxiety was significantly associated with lower OH-QoL as indexed by the OHIP-14 (r = 0.51-0.56, P < 0.01). Treatment was associated with marked improvement on oral health status, reduction of dental anxiety, and improvements regarding a variety of aspects of QoL (all Ps < 0.001). Reduction of dental anxiety, rather than improved oral health, was found to predict enhanced OH-QoL.
The results underline the importance of applying effective treatment methods for dentally anxious patients, not only with the purpose to alleviate their dental anxiety and to improve their oral health, but also because it contributes to an enhancement of their QoL.
本研究旨在确定牙科焦虑与生活质量（QoL）之间的关联，并检验以下假设：对高度焦虑的患者进行治疗会显著提高生活质量。
研究对象为荷兰一家牙科恐惧诊所的35名高度焦虑的牙科患者，在治疗前和治疗后（平均六次治疗，每次45 - 60分钟）均接受了牙科特质焦虑（牙科焦虑量表和简化牙科焦虑量表）和生活质量评估（使用口腔健康影响程度量表评估口腔健康相关生活质量，使用牙科焦虑相关生活质量量表评估与牙科焦虑相关的生活质量，使用功能总体评估评估生活质量的一般方面，同时通过视觉模拟量表对生活满意度的五个不同方面进行量化）。此外，还记录了口腔健康状况的客观指标（龋失补牙指数和牙医判断）和主观指标（患者判断）。
如口腔健康影响程度量表所示，较高的牙科焦虑与较低的口腔健康相关生活质量显著相关（r = 0.51 - 0.56，P < 0.01）。治疗与口腔健康状况的显著改善、牙科焦虑的降低以及生活质量各个方面的改善相关（所有P值< 0.001）。研究发现，牙科焦虑的降低而非口腔健康的改善可预测口腔健康相关生活质量的提高。
结果强调了对牙科焦虑患者应用有效治疗方法的重要性，这不仅是为了减轻他们的牙科焦虑和改善口腔健康，还因为这有助于提高他们的生活质量。
