dental<\/a> anxiety; this was not classified as just a slight feeling of trepidation about going to the dentist, but a serious fear of seeing the dentist. The anxious participants were divided into three groups, which were classified according to how long the patient had suffered from anxiety; some had always been anxious, some had developed anxiety during their adolescent years and others had developed anxiety during their adult years.<\/p>\nThe study showed that people who had always suffered from dental anxiety were more likely to suffer from poor oral health; those who developed anxiety in their adolescent years were more likely to develop oral health problems around the age of 15 and those who had adult-onset anxiety were more likely to lose teeth between the ages of 26 and 32.<\/p>\n
Lead researcher, Murray Thomson, professor of Dental Sciences at Otago University, said that the study revealed a significant relationship between anxiety levels and oral health; those who were anxious were more likely to delay going to see a dentist and were subsequently more likely to suffer from oral health problems. Many would only visit a dentist when their symptoms became unbearable; by this time, their condition was advanced and they required complex, expensive treatment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A new study has linked anxiety to poor oral health. The study, which involved 1,037 participants, measured the levels of anxiety amongst participants and found that a quarter of the group suffered from dental anxiety; this was not classified as just a slight feeling of trepidation about going to the dentist, but a serious fear […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":888008809,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[76,30,247,33],"class_list":["post-228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dental","tag-anxiety","tag-dental-care","tag-oral-health","tag-research-study"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t