Factors underlying dental fear: Afresh insight

Background: Dental fear leads to lower use of oral-healthcare services, and, thereby, forming a dynamic vicious cycle of an important psycho-social factor causing avoidance of dental treatment and lack of attendance to dental treatments The present study attempted to contextualize the dental fear scale, drawing on extant literature. Method: The study instrument was circulated through social networking sites and online professional groups. Factor analysis was the major analytical tool. Results: The resultfound a low and moderate level of dental fear among the respondents.The results, further, offer evidence to infer that education and employment are significant predictors of dental fear, but fails to establish the role of age structure on dental fear. Conclusions: The moderate level of dental fear signals favourable attitude towards preventive dental care leaving lesser room for the occurrence of any avoidable dental health emergency and its inherent spill-overs in future.