ArticleCommunity dentistry and oral epidemiology2017
Toward a genetic understanding of dental fear: evidence of heritability.
Article in Community dentistry and oral epidemiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Genome-wide Scan of Dental Fear and Anxiety Nominates Novel Genes.Journal of dental research · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of maternal dental anxiety on the time of first dental visit and dental caries status of children.Journal of education and health promotion · 2026Article
- Exploring high dental anxiety subtypes using cluster analysis approach: a cross-sectional study.BMC oral health · 2025Article
- Trauma, Terror, and Toothpaste: Exploring Memories for Dental Visits Across a Range of Patient Fear.Oral (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Complex Interplay Between Dental Anxiety, Generalized Anxiety, and Dental Neglect and Oral Health Quality of Life in the General Public.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Associations between Dental Anxiety Levels, Self-Reported Oral Health, Previous Unpleasant Dental Experiences, and Behavioural Reactions in Dental Settings: An Adult E-Survey.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2024Article
- Adverse childhood experiences and dental anxiety among Chinese adults in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2024Article
- Concurrent changes in dental anxiety and smoking in parents of the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study.European journal of oral sciences · 2023Article
- Dental Fear and Patient Preference for Emergency Dental Treatment Among Adults in COVID-19 Quarantine Centers in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.Patient preference and adherence · 2021Article
- Relationship Between Maternal Dental Anxiety and Children's Dental Caries in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dentistry · 2021Article
- Article
- Facilitating Green Supply Chain in Dental Care through Kansei Healthscape of Positive Emotions.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2019Article
- A Framework for Understanding the Role of Psychological Processes in Disease Development, Maintenance, and Treatment: The 3P-Disease Model.Frontiers in psychology · 2019Article
- INFLUENCE OF THE SEROTONERGIC SYSTEM POLYMORPHISM ON THE EXPRESSION OF DENTAL ANXIETY.Acta clinica Croatica · 2018Article
- Dental fear among transgender individuals - a cross-sectional survey.Special care in dentistry : official publication of the American Association of Hospital Dentists, the Academy of Dentistry for the Handicapped, and the American Society for Geriatric Dentistry · 2017Article
- Precision Dentistry in Early Childhood: The Central Role of Genomics.Dental clinics of North America · 2017Review
- A Preliminary Genome-Wide Association Study of Pain-Related Fear: Implications for Orofacial Pain.Pain research & management · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesDental fear is a prevalent problem that impacts dental treatment-seeking behavior and thus oral, systemic, and psychological health. Among other important predictors, fear of pain has been shown to be a critical component of dental fear. While learning history (id est, past experience) is known to shape development and maintenance of dental fear and fear of pain, minimal work has addressed genetic etiological variables for these healthcare-related anxieties. With the aim of coming to a more complete conceptualization of dental fear, this study assessed the heritability of dental fear and fear of pain and elucidated the role of genetics in the relation between the constructs.
methodsParticipants (n = 1370; 827 female), aged 11-74 years (M = 29.2, SD = 12.2), in a family-based cohort study completed measures of dental fear and fear of pain. Heritability and genetic correlation were estimated using likelihood-based methods under the variance components framework.
resultsDental fear was 30% heritable (P < 0.001) and fear of pain was 34% heritable (P < 0.001). Notably, there was substantial genetic correlation between dental fear and fear of pain, ρ
conclusionsIt is clear that, in addition to environmental factors, genetic influences are important in the etiology of dental fear and anxiety and should be considered in future studies of fear and anxiety associated with dental treatment and, potentially, interventions aimed at reducing distress that is a barrier to dental treatment utilization.
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