Search

This study explores the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), an instrument designed to assess the manifestations of dental anxiety. The DAS has been translated into several languages, but no adaptation and reliability analysis of the Portuguese version of the scale has yet been carried out. A total of 747 Brazilian undergraduate students participated in this study. The instrument proved to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Furthermore, we observed that women are more anxious during dental treatment routines compared to men. Our findings suggest that the Portuguese version of DAS is a reliable instrument for assessing adults' dental anxiety traits, and can be used for both clinical and research purposes., (2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc)

The purpose of this study was to determine Brazilian dentists' knowledge of emergency management of dento-alveolar trauma. A two-part questionnaire containing questions on demographic data and knowledge were mailed to 230 general dental practitioners (GDPs) and 70 endodontists. Questionnaires were returned by 42.6% of the GDPs and 62.8% of the endodontists. The survey data were statistically analyzed using Mann-Whitney U-test for practitioners' knowledge and Pearson's correlation coefficient for association between knowledge scores and practitioner age or years since graduation. The mean knowledge score of endodontists was significantly greater than for GDPs (P<0.0001). Dentists with trauma experience in their practices and those who had attended postgraduate courses on dental trauma had a significant higher mean knowledge score. In contrast, there was a poor correlation between the knowledge score and the ages of the respondents (r=0.086) or the years since graduation (r=0.108). In conclusion, this survey showed a poor knowledge of dental trauma management among the surveyed dentists and highlights the need to develop strategies to improve the knowledge base in this area of dentistry for the benefit of the dental trauma patient.