{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,30]],"date-time":"2026-05-30T02:35:39Z","timestamp":1780108539812,"version":"3.54.0"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"12","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2012,12,17]],"date-time":"2012-12-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1355702400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The aim of the present study was to evaluate the association between childhood dental experiences and dental fear in adulthood among dentistry, psychology and mathematics undergraduate students. A cross-sectional study of 1,256 students from the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, was performed. Students responded to the Brazilian version of the Dental Fear Survey (DFS) and a questionnaire regarding previous dental experiences. Both the DFS and the questionnaire were self-administered. Association was tested using descriptive, bivariate and multivariate linear regression analysis, with a 5% significance level. Dentistry undergraduates reported lower scores than psychology (p &lt; 0.001) and mathematics undergraduates (p &lt; 0.05) for all three dimensions of the DFS. Negative dental experiences in childhood was associated with dimensions of Avoidance (B = 2.70, p &lt; 0.001), Physiological arousal (B = 1.42, p &lt; 0.001) and Fears of specific stimuli\/situations (B = 3.44, p &lt; 0.001). The reason for first visit to dentist was associated with dimensions of Physiological arousal (B = 0.76, p &lt; 0.01) and Fears of specific stimuli\/situations (B = 1.29, p &lt; 0.01). Dentists should be encouraged to evaluate the dental fear of their patients before treatment. The DFS has been found to be an effective instrument for this purpose.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph9124676","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2012,12,17]],"date-time":"2012-12-17T12:00:58Z","timestamp":1355745658000},"page":"4676-4687","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":16,"title":["Association between Childhood Dental Experiences and Dental Fear among Dental, Psychology and Mathematics Undergraduates in Brazil"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"9","author":[{"given":"Maur\u00edcio","family":"Oliveira","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Pampulha Campus, Avenida Presidente Ant\u00f4nio Carlos, 6627, Belo Horizonte-MG, 31270-901, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cristiane","family":"Bendo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Pampulha Campus, Avenida Presidente Ant\u00f4nio Carlos, 6627, Belo Horizonte-MG, 31270-901, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meire","family":"Ferreira","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Dentistry, School of Biological and Health Sciences, Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri, Rua da Gl\u00f3ria, 187, Diamantina-MG, 39100-000, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Saul","family":"Paiva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Pampulha Campus, Avenida Presidente Ant\u00f4nio Carlos, 6627, Belo Horizonte-MG, 31270-901, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Miriam","family":"Vale","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Pampulha Campus, Avenida Presidente Ant\u00f4nio Carlos, 6627, Belo Horizonte-MG, 31270-901, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"J\u00fania","family":"Serra-Negra","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pediatric Dentistry and Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Pampulha Campus, Avenida Presidente Ant\u00f4nio Carlos, 6627, Belo Horizonte-MG, 31270-901, Brazil"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2012,12,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"313","DOI":"10.1016\/0005-7967(94)00042-I","article-title":"Origins of childhood dental fear","volume":"33","author":"Milgrom","year":"1995","journal-title":"Behav. 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