Differentiating anxiety-panic disorders from psychologic dental anxiety.

It has always been believed that fear and anxiety of dental treatment was a simple continuum of experience that occurs in mild, moderate, or severe form. Past and present studies that attempt to both trace etiology and measure it reflect this view. The numerous studies that are concerned with methods of management are based on this accepted philosophy regarding the etiology of dental fear and anxiety. To a large extent, this may be true. However, there are some notable exceptions, and it is these cases that present the greatest management problem. Omitting the symptoms of fear and anxiety related to physical illness, drug withdrawal, or major mental illness, they present anxiety as a unidimensional learned problem usually conditioned by externally negative forces or experiences. They postulate that the fear and anxiety seen is due to a variety of factors. The interpretation of the definitions of fear, anxiety, and phobias by many in the profession that are presented in this issue also reflect the view that fear, anxiety, and phobias are learned or conditioned responses. This single-minded view has determined much of our understanding and subsequent management of this problem in dentistry.