Why Do You Fear The Dentist?

Thank you for choosing to participate in our study! You, along with a total of 200 volunteers, will be taking part in a questionnaire focusing on dental anxiety. Dental anxiety is simply when a patient has some sort of fear of the dentist, ranging from mild to severe. There are many factors that have been discovered to cause dental anxiety; however, the influence of our society and every day surroundings seems to be overlooked by researchers. The goal of our study is to determine how much of an impact these societal factors have on dental anxiety.

Section 1: Please bubble in each appropriate statement below that relates to you.
Influence From Your Parents and Peers

o At least one of your parents or guardians suffers from dental anxiety. o Your fear of the dentist was influenced from feedback from your parents or guardians. o Hearing others generally talk about the trip to the dentist in a negative way influenced
your fear of the dentist.

o Your parents or peers have had no influence on your fear of the dentist.
Television

o A certain television commercial or advertisement increased your fear of the dentist. o A specific movie scene portraying the dentist in a negative and perhaps scary way,
such as an evil dentist, added fear into you.

o Television has had no influence on my fear of the dentist.

Internet

o A specific website on the Internet contributed to your fear of the dentist. o A social media website such as Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr portrayed the dentist
negatively and increased your fear.

o An advertisement on the World Wide Web displayed the dentist in a way that struck
fear upon you.

o The Internet has had no influence on your fear of the dentist.

Education

o A specific lesson from any year of schooling has influenced your fear of the dentist.

o A certain book or passage you have read from school increased your fear of the
dentist.

o A specific image you saw while in school relating to the dentist and ones oral health
influenced your fear of the dentist.

o Your experiences in school while earning an education have not impacted your dental
anxiety at all.

Section 2: Please briefly respond to each short response question.

1. Please state any factors from modern day society that have influenced your dental anxiety, or fear of the dentist, that we failed to mention in the previous section.

2. Please describe in detail the most significant society related factor to increase your fear of the dentist.

3. Would you say that overall this is the main reason for why you deal with dental anxiety today? If not, then what is?