Pain and Anxiety in Dentistry and Oral Health Care

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About this Research Topic

Background

Fear and anxiety about dental and oral health care is common. Without intervention, these fears and anxieties are often associated with short- and long-term negative consequences in youth as well as adults. As many as 45% of adults and 23% of youth experience at least mild dental care-related fear and anxiety, with such estimates documented globally. According to the American Dental Association, one in five adults have avoided dental treatment because of fear and anxiety. Even if not severe enough to cause dental treatment avoidance, dental care-related fear and anxiety can have lasting negative impacts. For instance, mild to severe levels of dental care-related fear and anxiety have been linked to poorer oral health, more frequent dental pain, negative beliefs about dentistry, lower quality of life, emotional distress, and increased financial cost. Limited access to evidence-based interventions for dental care-related fear, anxiety, and pain in conjunction with gaps in our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of these processes feed into persistence of this public health problem.

This Research Topic focuses on pain and fear/anxiety in dentistry and oral health care across the lifespan. Pain is a multidimensional experience intricately and critically tied to psychosocial factors, including emotion and behavior. As such, a bidirectional relation exists between pain and dental care-related fear and anxiety. For example, previous negative dental experiences influence pain awareness, fear, and anxiety via conditioning and other learning mechanisms. Likewise, abundant evidence demonstrates that stress and emotion modulate nociceptive circuitry and increase pain perception via multiple neurobiological mechanisms. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic interplay between pain, emotion, and behavior and their roles in prevention and intervention has the potential to ultimately reduce the societal burden of dental care-related fear and anxiety. Thus, the goal of this Research Topic is to advance knowledge about dental care-related fear and anxiety—with particular emphasis on the role of pain—across etiological, epidemiological, and intervention research domains and along the basic-translational spectrum.

This Research Topic seeks contemporary research addressing pain and fear/anxiety related to dentistry and oral health care, broadly defined. The scope is wide and diverse perspectives are encouraged. Potential study topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Genetic basis of pain, dental care-related fear and anxiety, and related factors
• Neurobiological mechanisms underlying pain, dental care-related fear/anxiety, and relevant outcomes (in vitro, animal, and human studies welcome)
• Behavioral, physiological, cognitive, and affective mechanisms involved in dental pain and the acquisition, maintenance, and/or amelioration of dental care-related fear/anxiety
• Relevant psychosocial theory and model development or refinement
• Epidemiological data on the prevalence and consequences (e.g., treatment-seeking behavior, oral health outcomes) of dental pain and dental care-related fear/anxiety (research on any developmental stage welcome; studies focusing on groups traditionally not included or centered in prior research on the topic encouraged)
• Health disparities and health care inequities as related to pain and fear/anxiety in dentistry
• Prevention strategies and interventions for managing and treating pain and fear/anxiety in dentistry (pilot studies and all trial designs welcome)
• Pain and anxiety management practices in special populations (e.g., children, individuals with intellectual disabilities)
• Opioid use for pain management in dental settings
• Dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practice related to pain and fear/anxiety management in dental settings
• Multi- and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding and managing pain and fear/anxiety in dentistry, including from health care disciplines outside dentistry and fields such as sociology, anthropology, economics, health services, and health policy

High-quality reviews and original research involving observational and experimental data are welcome, including in vitro and in vivo laboratory studies, clinical studies, case reports, epidemiological studies, and review papers.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Case Report
  • Classification
  • Clinical Trial
  • Community Case Study
  • Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
  • Data Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary

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Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

  • Brief Research Report
  • Case Report
  • Classification
  • Clinical Trial
  • Community Case Study
  • Curriculum, Instruction, and Pedagogy
  • Data Report
  • Editorial
  • General Commentary
  • Hypothesis and Theory
  • Methods
  • Mini Review
  • Opinion
  • Original Research
  • Perspective
  • Policy and Practice Reviews
  • Policy Brief
  • Review
  • Study Protocol
  • Systematic Review
  • Technology and Code

Keywords: Pain, dental anxiety, stress, dental fear, dental phobia, pain management

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