A recent study shows that people who experience dental anxiety and skip dental visits may end up being depressed based on the ensuing poor dental health or tooth loss.
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The information comes from a study explained at the 43rd Annual Meeting and Exhibition of the American Association for Dental Research at West Virginia University.
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System Survey compiled data on this subject based on numerous phone conversations. To participate, people had to be at least 19, as well as having the full array of data on anxiety, depression and tooth loss.
In all, there were nearly 77,000 people who partook in the study. The results showed that 13.4 percent of participants had some kind of anxiety, 16.7 percent dealt with depression and 5.7 percent had total tooth loss. The participants included the same number of males and females, in addition to including all types of races.
The data broke down the participants into three categories, including (1) depression; (2) anxiety; and (3) a category labeled depression/anxiety. The results indicated that there was a major difference in regards to tooth loss in people who experienced some type of depression or anxiety when compared to people who didn’t have to deal with any of that.
The adjusted odds ratio for tooth loss and anxiety was 1.58, for tooth loss and depression it was 1.64 and for tooth loss and depression/anxiety it was 1.55. The adjusted odds ratio for anxiety was 1.13, for depression it was 1.16 and for depression/anxiety it was 1.23.
Based on that information, the researchers concluded that depression and anxiety were related to tooth loss.
Source : Todays Dental news