IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i4p1584-d495508.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Dental Anxiety and Higher Sensory Processing Sensitivity in a Sample of German Soldiers with Inflammatory Periodontal Disease

Author

Listed:
  • Thomas Eger

    (Department of XXIII Dentistry-Periodontology, Bundeswehr Central Hospital Koblenz, Ruebenacherstrasse 170, 56072 Koblenz, Germany)

  • Felix Wörner

    (Department of XXIII Dentistry-Periodontology, Bundeswehr Central Hospital Koblenz, Ruebenacherstrasse 170, 56072 Koblenz, Germany)

  • Ursula Simon

    (Department of VI Center for Mental Health and Psychiatry, Bundeswehr Central Hospital Koblenz, Ruebenacherstrasse 170, 56072 Koblenz, Germany)

  • Sandra Konrad

    (Department of Personality Psychology and Psychological Diagnostics, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Helmut-Schmidt-University/University of the Bundeswehr Hamburg, Gebäude H4, Holstenhofweg 85, 22043 Hamburg, Germany)

  • Anne Wolowski

    (Department of Prosthodontics and Biomaterials, Albert-Schweitzer-Campus 1, University Hospital and Faculty of Medicine Muenster, 48149 Muenster, Germany)

Abstract

(1) Background: Dental anxiety with disease value usually leads to avoidance of dental treatment. For the initial diagnosis of the level of anxiety, questionnaires such as the Hierarchical Anxiety Questionnaire (HAQ) are suitable. The construct of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) describes a general trait in which people with a higher degree of SPS perceive information more strongly and process it more thoroughly. (2) Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated the relationship between dental anxiety and higher levels of SPS in 116 soldiers referred with different stages of periodontitis for mandatory dental fitness before military deployment. (3) Results: The proportion of patients with periodontitis in stage III + IV was 39% and in stage I + II was 27%. The mean cumulative values of the questionnaires were 20.9 ± 10.6 for HAQ and 27.7 ± 16.0 for SPS. Eleven moderately anxious patients had a SPS value of 37.4 ± 13.5 and 10 highly anxious patients had a value of 36.3 ± 14.1. Patients diagnosed with stage III + IV periodontitis showed significantly higher values on the SPS subscale Low Sensory Threshold (LST), which describes overstimulation by external sensory stimuli, compared to patients with stage I + II periodontitis. Dental anxiety showed moderately significant correlations with the SPS subscale Ease of Excitation (EOE), which measures emotional reactivity to physiological stimuli. (4) Conclusions: Due to the frequency of dental anxiety and higher sensitivity in patients with severe periodontitis, it is useful to record said frequency.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Eger & Felix Wörner & Ursula Simon & Sandra Konrad & Anne Wolowski, 2021. "Dental Anxiety and Higher Sensory Processing Sensitivity in a Sample of German Soldiers with Inflammatory Periodontal Disease," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-10, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1584-:d:495508
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1584/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/4/1584/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Catherine Petit & Victor Anadon-Rosinach & Nicolas Tuzin & Jean-Luc Davideau & Olivier Huck, 2021. "Influence of Depression and Anxiety on Non-Surgical Periodontal Treatment Outcomes: A 6-Month Prospective Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(17), pages 1-10, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:4:p:1584-:d:495508. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.