Impact of the Type of Dental Treatment on the Dental Fear of Adolescents in South Gyeongsang Province

The purpose of this study was to examine the influential relationship between the type of dental treatment and the dental fear of teens in a bid to seek ways of relieving adolescents of dental anxiety and fear. The subjects were teenaged students in South Gyeongsang Province. After a survey was conducted for eight days from December 2 to 9, 2009, the answer sheets from 420 students were analyzed. The findings of the study were as follows: When a correlation analysis was employed to look for connections between dental treatment experiences and dental fear, the components of dental treatment experiences had a significant correlation to those of dental fear. As a result of making a regression analysis, overall dental fear was under the significant influence of prosthodontic treatment experiences, and avoidance of dentistry was significantly affected by conservative treatment experiences. Oral and maxillofacial treatment experiences had a significant impact on physiologic response, and dental stimulus was significantly affected by prosthodontic treatment experiences. Therefore dental institutions should direct their efforts into the development of manuals geared toward different types of treatment and different patients in order for adolescents to receive dental treatment without any anxiety or fear, to get a regular dental checkup, to receive more preventive treatment, to promote their oral health and ultimately to lead a healthy life.

경남지역 청소년들의 치과진료형태가 치과공포감에 미치는 영향

본 연구는 청소년들의 치과진료형태에 따른 치과공포감의 영향관계에 대해 규명하여 청소년의 치과진료 시 불안, 공포감을 완화시켜줄 수 있는 방법을 모색하고자 하였다. 조사대상은 경남지역에 재학 중인 청소년을 대상으로 2009년 12월 2일부터 9일까지 8일간 설문조사를 실시하여 420부를 분석에 사용하였다. 연구결과 상관분석을 통한 치과진료 경험과 공포감의 관계에서 각 구성요소 간 유의한 상관성을 보였고, 회귀분석 결과 전체적인 공포감에는 치과보철 진료경험이, 치과진료 회피 공포감에는 치과보존 진료경험이, 생리적 반응요인 공포감에는 구강악안면 진료경험이, 치료자극 반응요인 공포감에는 치과보철 진료경험이 유의한 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 이에 향후 치과 의료기관은 청소년들이 치과진료에 대한 막연한 공포나 두려움을 없애고, 정기적인 치과방문을 통한 예방진료 등의 강화로 구강건강증진을 도모하고 건강한 삶을 영위할 수 있도록 진료형태별 대상별 치과 공포감을 없앨 수 있는 매뉴얼 개발 등의 노력이 필요할 것으로 생각된다.