Comparación en los niveles de ansiedad en pacientes previo a la realización de terapia endodóntica y periodontal

Anxiety generated by dental treatment usually affects the behaviour of patients, and this is a problem that can impede patients from seeking treatment, or complicate or delay dental procedures. The objective of this study is to compare the state anxiety (normal state of anxiety on the day to day basis) and trait anxiety (arousal of anxiety due to a particular situation) levels in 80 patients (40 women and 40 men) who sought treatment at the undergraduate clinic at the Universidad Mayor. Before being treated for asymptomatic endodontic and periodontal diseases the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory questionnaire was completed in group A: 40 endodontic patients, and group B: 40 periodontal patients (men and women were evenly distributed between groups).

Results

Patients showed significant differences in trait anxiety (P = .2473) and state anxiety (P = .0329) before periodontal treatments versus endodontic treatments. Significant differences were found in the Trait/State Anxiety significant differences (P = .05) when comparing men and women.

Conclusions

(i) Patients feel more anxiety when faced with periodontal treatments than when faced with endodontic treatments, and (ii) women feel more anxiety than men when faced with either dental treatment.