SYSTEMATIC REVIEW


The Association Between Dental Anxiety And Psychiatric Disorders And Symptoms: A Systematic Review



Harri Halonen1, *, Jenna Nissinen2, Heli Lehtiniemi2, Tuula Salo3, Pirkko Riipinen4, Jouko Miettunen2
1 Oulu University Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, 90230 Oulu, Finland
2 Center for Life Course Health Research, University of Oulu, 90230 Oulu, Finland
3 Department of Diagnostics and Oral Medicine, Institute of Dentistry, University of Oulu, 90230 Oulu, Finland
4 Institute of Clinical Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oulu, 90230 Oulu, Finland


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Creative Commons License
© 2018 Halonen et al.

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

* Address correspondence to this author at the Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University Hospital, Peltolantie 17, P.O. BOX 26, 90230 Oulu, Finland, Tel: +35883152011; Fax: + 3588336169; E-mail harri.halonen@oulu.fi


Abstract

Background:

A growing amount of evidence suggests that dental anxiety is associated with other psychiatric disorders and symptoms. A systematic review was conducted to critically evaluate the studies of comorbidity of dental anxiety with other specific phobias and other Axis I psychiatric disorders.

Objective:

The aim of the review was to explore how dental anxiety is associated with other psychiatric disorders and to estimate the level of comorbid symptoms in dental anxiety patients.

Methods:

The review was conducted and reported in accordance with the MOOSE statement. Data sources included PubMed, PsycInfo, Web of Science and Scopus.

Results:

The search produced 631 hits, of which 16 unique records fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The number of eligible papers was low. Study populations were heterogeneous including 6,486 participants, and a total of 25 tests and in few cases clinical interviews were used in the evaluation processes. The results enhanced the idea about the comorbidity between dental anxiety and other psychiatric disorders. The effect was found strong in several studies.

Conclusion:

Patients with a high level of dental anxiety are more prone to have a high level of comorbid phobias, depression, mood disorders and other psychiatric disorders and symptoms.

Keywords: Dental anxiety, Comorbidity, Anxiety disorders, Specific phobia, Psychiatric symptoms, Psychiatric disorders.