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The role of memory on the dentally anxious patient's response to dental treatment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Ruth Freeman
Ruth Freeman*
Affiliation:
Preventative Dentistry, Queen's University of Belfast
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Abstract

The aetiology of dental anxiety is multifactorial. Psychologically traumatising events associated with dental treatment have been shown to be of particular importance. The present investigation examines the role of memory in relation to these traumatic episodes and investigates their influence on the patient's response to dental treatment.

The study has shown that patients with dental anxiety have had more experience of “traumatic dental events” (p<0.001), relate the cause of their dental anxiety to specific dental procedures and report more fear of dental treatment than controls. The memories of such traumatic dental events are important indicators of anxiety in the clinical setting, with dentally anxious patients having significantly higher scores for dental anxiety (p<0.001) compared with controls. Furthermore, the memories of these events have a special relevance to the patient's subjective experience of dental anxiety in the here and now. The past event sensitises the susceptible patient and maintains and intensifies the anxiety through a feed-back mechanism, resulting in a vicious circle of anticipatory dental fear.

Keywords

AnxietyDental CareDentist-Patient Relations
Type
Original Papers
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 8 , Issue 2 , September 1991 , pp. 110 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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