Investigation of Factors Associated with the Increased Fear and Anxiety in Dental Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Turkey: A Survey

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to measure the COVID-19 fear, and anxiety levels in dental patients during the COVID-19 pandemic and to determine the variables that may be effective on these scales.Study design: The questionnaire consists of six parts: sociodemographic data, COVID-19 knowledge, information sources, perspective about COVID-19, fear of COVID-19 scale (FCV-19S) and generalized anxiety disorder-7 scale(GAD-7).Results: 87% of the participants had good knowledge of COVID-19. The mean FCV-19S score of women (19.14±5.10) was significantly higher than that of men (16.47±6.05) (p<0.05). 8.3% of the participant had moderate to severe anxiety symptoms. Additionally, a positive significant correlation was observed between FCV-19S scores and GAD-7 scores (r=0.236,p<0.001).Conclusions: The present study showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has significant psychological effects on dental patients. The results of this study can be helpful as an essential guide for the development of a psychological support strategy for dental patients.