One in five women terrified of the dentist

Nearly one in five women – and one in ten men – are terrified of the dentist, according to the biggest UK adult dental survey for a decade.

The findings from the 2009 Adult Dental Health Survey also show that younger people are more likely to suffer from "extreme dental anxiety" before they even sit in a dentist's chair.

The survey, which is carried out every 10 years, gives a snapshot of adults’ teeth across England, Northern Ireland and Wales. Some 11,380 people were interviewed and nearly 7,000 examined, making it the biggest ever dental survey in the UK.

For the first time, people taking part were asked to rate their level of anxiety in response to different dental scenarios, such as sitting in the dentist’s waiting room, waiting to have a tooth drilled, and the need to visit the dentist.

Around seventy per cent of adults interviewed said they would be anxious and thirty per cent "extremely anxious" if they were about to have a an injection into their gum or have a tooth drilled.

But 12 per cent of all adults in the survey suffered from extreme dental anxiety. Women were more affected by than men; 17 per cent of women compared with eight per cent for men.

Fifteen per cent of young adults between the ages of 16 to 34 had extreme dental anxiety compared with nine per cent of adults over 85.

The good news is that dental health in the UK has improved. One in sixteen adults in the UK have no teeth, compared with one in four in 1978. However, dental health in Wales still has some catching up to do as one in ten adults have no teeth, compared with one in three in 1978.

Ian O'Sullivan, from the UK Office of National Statistics, which carried out the survey, said: “The survey shows that, although Wales still has more serious dental problems than England, the overall picture of the state of the three nations’ teeth has greatly improved since the first Adult Dental Health Survey was conducted in 1968.

This article was published on Thu 9 December 2010