Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Swedish version of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale.

INTRODUCTION

The impact of dental anxiety is profound. At the same time, dental anxiety is sometimes difficult to detect. Therefore, a patient-reported outcome measure is needed. The Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) is a short, internationally used self-assessment questionnaire for screening of dental anxiety.

AIM

To cross-culturally adapt the original English MDAS to Swedish (MDAS-S), and to validate it in a Swedish setting.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The adaptation was conducted in accordance with recommended guidelines. Field testing was performed both among adults presenting for their regular dental check-ups and among adults diagnosed by a psychologist as dentally phobic.

RESULTS

The MDAS-S was formed during the adaptation procedure. Field testing included 246 adults presenting for their regular dental check-ups and 7 adults diagnosed with dental phobia. The MDAS-S score was significantly higher (p < 0.001) in the dentally phobic group than in the regular dental check-up group. Reliability was good with Cronbach's Alpha values between 0.880 to 0.909. Test-retest of 37 individuals showed an excellent Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of 0.956. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) finds support for a two-factor model although with 78% shared variance between the factors.

CONCLUSIONS

The MDAS-S demonstrates good reliability and appears valid as a screening tool for dental anxiety among Swedish adults.