Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health
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Browsing Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health by Author "Armfield, J."
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Item Open Access Dental fear in Australia: who's afraid of the dentist?(Australian Dental Assn Inc, 2006) Armfield, J.; Spencer, A.; Stewart, J.; Australian Research Centre for Population Oral HealthBackground: This study aimed to describe both the prevalence of dental fear in Australia and to explore the relationship between dental fear and a number of demographic, socio-economic, oral health, insurance and service usage variables. Methods: A telephone interview survey of a random sample of 7312 Australian residents, aged five years and over, from all states and territories. Results: The prevalence of high dental fear in the entire sample was 16.1 per cent. A higher percentage of females than males reported high fear (HF). Adults aged 40–64 years old had the highest prevalence of high dental fear with those adults aged 80+ years old having the least. There were also differences between low fear (LF) and HF groups in relation to socioeconomic status (SES), with people from higher SES groups generally having less fear. People with HF were more likely to be dentate, have more missing teeth, be covered by dental insurance and have a longer time since their last visit to a dentist. Conclusions: This study found a high prevalence of dental fear within a contemporary Australian population with numerous differences between individuals with HF and LF in terms of socioeconomic, socio-demographic and self-reported oral health status characteristics.Item Metadata only Indigenous child oral health at a regional and state level(Blackwell Publishing Asia, 2007) Jamieson, L.; Parker, E.; Armfield, J.; Australian Research Centre for Population Oral HealthAim: To compare the dental disease experience of Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in South Australia’s mid-north region (regional area) and to assess Indigenous oral health differences at a regional- and state-level. Methods: Data were collected from a School Dental Service based in an Aboriginal-owned medical health service and standard school dental clinics in the regional area from March 2001 to March 2006. State-level data were obtained over a 12-month period in 2003. Caries prevalence (per cent dmft or DMFT >0) and severity (mean dmft or DMFT, SiC and SiC10) measures were used to assess dental disease experience. Results: In the regional area, Indigenous children aged <10 years had 1.6, 1.9, 1.6 and 1.4 times the percent dmft >0, mean dmft, SiC primary and SiC10 primary, respectively, of their non-Indigenous counterparts, while Indigenous children aged 6+ years had 1.3, 1.7, 1.7 and 1.6 times the percent DMFT > 0, mean DMFT, SiC permanent and SiC10 permanent, respectively, of non-Indigenous children. Indigenous children in the regional area had significantly higher caries prevalence and severity than Indigenous children at a state-level. Conclusion: Indigenous children in South Australia’s mid-north region are dentally disadvantaged in comparison with their non-Indigenous counterparts and with the general South Australian Indigenous child population.Item Open Access Intra-oral distribution of caries in South Australian children(Australian Dental Assn Inc, 2006) Armfield, J.; Spencer, A.The Child Dental Health Survey (CDHS), a national surveillance survey of child oral health, is one of the longest running national health data collections in Australia. Commencing in 1977 under the auspices of the then Commonwealth Department of Health, the annual survey has documented an appreciable improvement in Australian children’s caries experience.Item Metadata only Manipulating perceptions of spider characteristics and predicted spider fear: Evidence for the cognitive vulnerability model of the etiology of fear(Pergamon-Elsevier Science Ltd, 2007) Armfield, J.; Australian Research Centre for Population Oral HealthThe present study reports on an attempt to experimentally manipulate perceptions of uncontrollability, unpredictability and dangerousness related to an imaginal encounter with a spider in order to determine whether there is an effect on self-rated predicted spider fear. Experimental manipulations involved differing information in relation to both the spider and the imaginal task. The control, predictability and dangerousness manipulations all had significant main effects on task-related spider fear (TRSF). Measures of the perception of the spiders as uncontrollable, unpredictable and dangerous were also significantly associated with TRSF and accounted for 42% of the variance in predicted fear beyond that accounted for by the experimental manipulations. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for better understanding the etiology and maintenance of fear. The overall findings are consistent with the cognitive vulnerability model, with cognitive perceptions of an object or situation seen as causal determinants of the fear associated with the stimulus.Item Metadata only Predicting dental avoidance among dentally fearful Australian adults(Munksgaard Int Publ Ltd, 2013) Armfield, J.; Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH)Dental fear is related to poorer oral health outcomes, and this might be explained by the less frequent dental visiting of many fearful people. The objectives of this study were to investigate differences between dentally fearful people who regularly attend the dentist and fearful people who infrequently visit the dentist. A random sample of 1,082 Australians ≥ 15 yr of age completed a mailed questionnaire (response rate = 71.6%), and 191 dentate, high-fear adults (≥ 18 yr of age) were selected for further analysis. Dental avoidance was recorded if a person was currently avoiding or delaying dental care and if he/she had not been to a dentist in the previous 2 yr. Among the selected dentally fearful adults, dental avoidance was predicted by smoking status, toothbrushing frequency, coping strategy use, perceptions of dental visits as uncontrollable and unpredictable, and by anxiety relating to numbness, not knowing what the dentist is going to do, and cost. In a multivariate logistic regression model, smoking, toothbrushing, coping, and anxiety about numbness and cost remained as statistically significant predictors, with the model accounting for 30% of the variance. While several variables were associated with dental avoidance among fearful adults, the nature and causal directions of these associations remain to be established.Item Metadata only The moderating role of dental expectancies on the relationship between cognitive vulnerability and dental fear in children and adolescents(Blackwell Munksgaard, 2013) Carrillo-Diaz, M.; Crego, A.; Armfield, J.; Romero, M.; Australian Research Centre for Population Oral Health (ARCPOH)Objective
Recently, cognitive approaches have been successfully applied to the understanding of child dental anxiety. Our study aimed to analyze the interplay between cognitive variables and their associations with dental fear. In particular, we proposed that the observed relationship between dental treatment-related cognitive vulnerability (i.e., uncontrollability, unpredictability, dangerousness, and disgustingness appraisals) and dental fear is moderated by the expectancies of the probability and aversiveness of negative events during dental treatments.Methods
A questionnaire survey was conducted with data obtained from 179 participants (8-18 years, 55.9% female) who attended 12 randomly selected educational establishments in Madrid (Spain).Results
Dental fear was associated with an irregular pattern of dental visits. As expected, cognitive vulnerability was strongly linked to dental anxiety. For those children who expected a lower likelihood of negative dental events or appraised them in a less aversive way, the relationship between cognitive vulnerability and fear was attenuated.Conclusions
As dental fear and oral health are connected, the prevention and reduction of dental fear among children and adolescents might be a worthwhile target for public health interventions. Our study sheds some light on how this could be achieved, that is, by modifying the children's vulnerability appraisals as well as their fearful dental expectancies.