Validity and Reliability of the Romanian Version of a Modified Short Form of Fear of Dental Pain Questionnaire.

The study aimed to test the validity and reliability of the Romanian version of short form of Fear of Dental Pain questionnaire (s-FDPQ), modified by adding an item about dental implant insertion.

Material and methods: The design of the study was cross-sectional. Data were collected through an online questionnaire completed by university students, administered from January to March 2024. The survey included information about past dental treatments, the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), and items of s-FDPQ.

Results: 186 participants were included in the study. The Romanian version of the modified s-FDPQ had a good reliability Sperman-Brown coefficient is 0.878, and Cronbach alpha is 0.92. The questionnaire had a good convergent validity, with all items being moderately correlated with the DAS score. The one-factor model was tested and has a good fit according to the confirmatory factor analysis. The participants were afraid of pain mostly regarding having a wisdom tooth extracted or a dental implant inserted. A statistically significant higher fear of dental pain was observed in those who did not previously have a root canal treatment (p=0.008) and in those who had dental implants in the past (p=0.046). Those attending regular dental check-ups had lower levels of fear of dental pain.

Conclusion: The Romanian version of s-FDPQ, modified by adding a question about dental implant insertion, has good reliability and validity. Fear of dental pain seemed to be influenced by features of dental procedures and previous dental experience.