Factors Influencing Anxiety Levels During Dental Radiographic Examination Among Dental Students

Abstract

Introduction: : Dental anxiety was found to be related to the radiographic procedure and can be influenced by sociodemographic characteristics of patients such as age, gender, level of education, and provoking factors such as past dental examination experience. Evaluating the anxiety regarding dental radiographic examination could be beneficial in ensuring the procedure’s continuance. This study aimed to measure the radiology knowledge among dental students and its association with anxiety due to dental radiographic examination. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to collect the data using a questionnaire packet that included a knowledge and anxiety questionnaire, demographic data, and information about the experience of dental radiographic examination. A total sampling of 1st and 2nd year undergraduate and clerkship dental students at the Faculty of Dentistry, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia was selected based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. Anxiety-related factors were assessed using descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression conducted with STATA 15.1. Results: Results showed that knowledge and anxiety were negatively correlated but the correlation was not statistically significant. Gender, radiographic technique, and presence/absence of a companion during the examination were not correlated with anxiety. Meanwhile, the anxiety level was negatively and significantly correlated with age and examination frequency (p < 0.05). Multiple linear regression results showed strong evidence that age and examination frequency were the main factors for predicting anxiety. Conclusion: Although age, radiographic examination frequency, and educational level are significant bivariate predictors of anxiety, subsequent regression analysis indicated that only age and radiographic examination frequency influence anxiety.