Patient Anxiety and Phobia

After completing this course, you’ll be able to:

1. Define fear and anxiety.
2. Distinguish between fear and anxiety.
3. Explain why dental personnel should be trained in the management of fear and anxiety.
4. Discuss etiologic factors of patient’s fear of dentistry.
5. List three major causes of patient’s fear of dentistry.
6. Using patient survey of dental situations as a guide, identify various situations in terms of patient’s perception of fear.
7. Define a successful anxiety management program.
8. Explain the significance of iatrogenic interview and describe how it can help lessen patient anxiety.
9. Formulate 4 questions to measure the Corah Dental Anxiety Scale.
10. Identify differences by age of onset with respect to potential etiological factors, such as negative dental experiences, family history of dental anxiety, and general psychological states.
11. Explain the implications of determining the age of onset of dental anxiety as a patient management and treatment strategy.
12. Discuss 6 most common origins of dental fear with a patient.
13. Ask 9 questions of a patient that may determine if the patient has dental anxiety syndrome.
14. Compare the effectiveness of tranquilizing drugs and psychotherapy in relieving patient anxiety. Indicate which has the longer-lasting effect.
15. Discuss with the patient various steps that can be take to overcome the fear and anxiety of dentistry.
16. Explain to a parent the steps that he or she can take to allay fears of a child before a dental appointment.

To assess the effectiveness of the course material, we ask that you evaluate your achievement of each learning objective on a scale of A to D (A=excellent, B=good, C=fair, D=unsatisfactory). Please indicate your responses next to each learning objective and return it to us with your completed exam.