(PR13) Evaluating Patients' Anxiety Levels Before and After Endodontic Microsurgery Using Modified Dental Anxiety Scale

Abstract:

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the anxieties and fears of patients prior to endodontic microsurgery. A modified dental anxiety scale is used in the pre- and postoperative survey.

Methods: On the procedure day, patients were given a questionnaire to evaluate their preoperative fears and anxieties. They were asked to fill out a survey to assess their feelings about the procedure 2-4 weeks postoperatively. Paired t-test and Mann-Whitney test were used to analyze the data. The significant level is set at 0.05 level.

Results: Forty surveys have been collected with 21 follow-up surveys. The average preoperative anxiety score was 1.58±1.18 out of 4 (0-3.6), and the postoperative anxiety score was 1.38±0.91 (0.25-3.75)(p=0.98). When asked the likelihood of undergoing endodontic microsurgery again, the average patient score was a 6.62 on a scale from 0(not at all) to 10(extremely likely). When comparing patients who sought out additional information from the AAE with those who didn't, there is no statistically significant differences of the preoperative anxiety level (p=0.83).

Conclusion: Patients' preoperative anxiety levels are often higher than postoperative feelings regarding their procedure. Additional external information most often does not change a patient's perception going into endodontic microsurgical procedures. Most patients would be likely to proceed with endodontic microsurgery again.