Reliability and Validity of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale in Turkish Patients

Abstract

We aimed to determine dental anxiety among Turkish patients and assess the sensitivity, specificity, positive/negative predictive values and reliability of the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS) and Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS). Patients referred to our clinic for dental treatment who had a history of dental anxiety were included in the study. 294 randomly selected patients (mean age 38.8 years) completed a questionnaire combining Corah's DAS and MDAS. They were retested 15 days later. The prevalence of dental anxiety was found to be 9.9% (29/294) for Corah's DAS at the cut-off point ≥ 15 and 8.8% (26/294) for the MDAS at the cut-off point ≥ 19. Both dental anxiety scales gave acceptable sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values at these cut-off points.