Psychometric and cytomorphometric analysis of dental phobia in pediatric patients: Association between anxiety and cellular structure

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Children frequently experience negative feelings, such as dental fear or anxiety, as a result of the stress of receiving dental care. Extremely anxious individuals resist therapy or completely avoid it, which exacerbates oral and other health issues. Aim: The goal of this study was to examine the cytomorphometric responses toward dental interventions and their potential interplay with psychometric indices of anxiety levels and previous dental experience, specifically anesthesia, and how they varied before and after the treatment in children. Materials and Methods: On informed consent, buccal mucosal samples were obtained from 20 children (33% males and females 67%) in the pediatric dentistry clinic before treatment and immediately posttreatment. Dental anxiety was assessed through specific questionnaires (Modified Child Dental Anxiety Scale faces version) completed by the children. Results: On the cellular level: Cellular diameter (CD), nuclear diameter (ND), nuclear area (NA), and cellular area (CA) were assessed (Magnus Pro software and hematoxylin and eosin staining) while scores from the questionnaire established anxiety levels. Compared to pretreatment, mean CD, CA, and NA were decreased following treatment, while ND was higher at the recall. Dental anxiety questionnaire scores were also significantly correlated with each other which turned out to be positive. Conclusion: As a result, in response to environmental inputs, mitochondrial cells dynamically alter in terms of morphology and functionality. Chronic structural and functional variation in mitochondria can result in functional adjustments which were correlated by cytomorphometric and psychological investigation.