Clinical and Statistical Assessment of the Psycho-Emotional Status of Adolescents at the Dental Office

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to assess the level of personal and reactive anxiety in teenagers of the Transcarpathian region during a dental appointment and establish the correlational dependence of parameters. Materials and methods. An assessment of psycho-emotional state and dental status of 384 adolescents aged 12-18 years who were patients of the “University Dental Polyclinic” was carried out. The patient's appeal was both urgent and for the purpose of rehabilitation, planned. Depending on the level of personal anxiety, patients were divided into clinical groups to determine the prevalence, intensity and activity of caries. The first group included 244 teenagers (175 girls and 69 boys) who were diagnosed with a high level of personal anxiety. The second group consisted of 105 adolescents (48 girls and 57 boys) in whom basic anxiety was moderate, the third group consisted of 35 adolescents with low anxiety (10 girls and 25 boys). The level of reactive and personal anxiety was assessed according to the methodology of Ch. D. Spielberger (adapted by Yu. L. Khanin). Indicators of the prevalence, intensity and activity of caries (CPV index) were determined in the examined subjects according to generally accepted methods. Results and discussion. The level of reactive and personal anxiety is determined to be high in both boys and girls, and reactive anxiety caused by visiting the dentist reaches the maximum percentage indicators in both groups and has a significantly higher percentage than personal anxiety. Significant differences in caries activity indicators of the first and second groups and the first and third groups were established, in particular, significantly lower indicators of absent and compensated caries (p <0.05) and significantly higher indicators of subcompensated and decompensated caries (p <0.05). The indicators of decompensated caries differed significantly between the indicators of the second and third groups (25.8%; 14.3%; p <0.05). Conclusion. High personal anxiety is a factor in the formation and progression of carious lesions of hard tissues in adolescents, a direct relationship between the level of personal anxiety and the course of caries in adolescents has been established, with an increase in personal anxiety, the percentage of decompensated caries increases. That is, high personal anxiety is a factor in the progression of dental caries in teenagers