Common Use of a Fear Survey Schedule for Assessment of Dental Fear Among Children and Adults

Background: Little is known about children with dental fear (DF) in a long-term perspective. Measures of DF suitable for use among children, adolescents, and adults would be of value for longitudinal and family studies.

Aim: Our aim was to explore the DF subscale of the Children's Fear Survey Schedule (CFSS-DS) in highly fearful adult dental patients.

Design: The subjects were 230 adult patients applying for treatment for severe DF at a specialized DF clinic. Questionnaires investigated background data, general fear and DF, and general anxiety and depression. Reference data were obtained from 36 nonfearful patients on a subset of questionnaires.

Results: The fearful group reported high levels of DF on all measures and at a level similar to children with severe DF. The DF measures clearly differed between the fearful and reference groups. A factor analysis revealed a three-factor structure (fear of dental treatment, medical treatment, and of strangers and choking), which explained 68% of the variance.

Conclusion: The CFSS-DS appears suitable for use in studies of adult populations. The results indicated that some areas of DF (physiology, avoidant behaviour, anticipatory anxiety), areas of importance among adult patients, are not assessed by the CFSS-DS. Studies of adults should therefore also include established adult measures of DF.