Pain, Dental Fear, and Oral Health-related Quality of Life-Patients Seeking Care in an Emergency Dental Service in Germany.

The aim of this study was to identify the influence of dental fear, pain, and impaired oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) on patients seeking care in a German emergency dental service. Patients attending the emergency dental service at the University of Leipzig (Germany) were consecutively recruited and completed three questionnaires, including a visual analog scale for pain, the dental fear survey (DFS), and the oral health impact profile (OHIP-49). A total of 307 patients attended the emergency dental service and 286 agreed to take part in the study. The mean age was 41.7 years (50.4% males). The pain was reported by 87.2 % of the subjects, and their main reason for seeking care was a toothache (52.6 %). Regarding psychosocial characteristics, the mean OHIP and DFS scores were 40.0 and 47.6, respectively. For dentally fearful patients, a significantly higher impairment of OHRQoL was identified than for subjects with less or no fear. 33.2% of the participants irregularly consulted a dentist, and 58.4% of these patients were categorized as dentally fearful. The current investigation identified a high pain intensity as well as a high prevalence of dental fear, and a high impairment of OHRQoL in patients seeking care in an emergency dental service. The results of the current study might help to develop specific services for patients with dental fear, which can successively reduce the number of emergency dental treatments.