Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Cumhuriyet Dental Journal, cilt.25, ss.130-133, 2022 (Scopus)
© 2022. All Rights Reserved.Aims: Aimed to evaluate the effect of dental anxiety levels of students at Sivas Cumhuriyet University Faculty of Medicine on oral hygiene behaviors. Materials and Methods: It is descriptive, cross-sectional study and carried out between September-October 2021. It was applied online to 216 volunteers from class I-V students. Students were asked about their sociodemographic characteristics, oral hygiene behaviors and Corah Dental Anxiety Scale (C-DAS). The C-DAS questionnaire is in 5-point Likert type consisting of 4 questions (Min: 4-max: 20 points). Analyzes were made with the SPSS 25 program. Descriptive statistics, independent sample T-test were performed. Results: 50% (n=108) of the students were women. 78.2% (n=169) had never smoked. 33.3% (n=72) of them started brushing regularly before age of six. 58.8% (n=127) were brushing their teeth at least twice a day. The rate of brushed their teeth correctly was 49.5% (n=107). Only 24.5% (n=53) of the students changed their toothbrush every three months. Students' use of additional dental hygiene tools other than toothbrushes respectively; toothpick (37.5%, n=81), dental floss (32.4%, n=70), mouthwash (26.9%, n=58), interface brush (6%, n=13), miswak (3.7%, n=8). The mean C-DAS score was 8.8±3.7 (min:4-max:20). The mean score was significantly higher for female students (9.5±3.7) than the males (8.0±3.5) and those who had a toothache (9.5±4.1) in the last year than the others (8.1±3.2). There was no significant difference between C-DAS score and brushing teeth twice a day or more. There was no significant difference between the use of additional dental hygiene tools and C-DAS score. Conclusion: Dental anxiety was found to be higher in women and those who had toothache in the last year. It was determined that anxiety did not affect the dental hygiene behavior.