Behavior of dental phobic residents of large and small communities.

The purpose of the present study was to characterize differences among dental phobic patients in past dental experience between residents of standard metropolitan areas (SMSA), and non-SMSA. Over a period of 1 year, the records of 41 dental phobic patients were evaluated. These patients were attending a special Israeli Defense Force clinic designed to treat dental phobics. The mean time since the last routine visit in both groups was 12.42 +/- 6.54 years and the mean age at which the patients had had their last routine dental treatment was 14.56 +/- 4.62 years. Over a two-year period prior to the present visit, the main reason for SMSA patients to seek any dental care was dental pain (P = 0.015). All other variables that compared the dental behavior of SMSA patients with non-SMSA patients showed no difference. The findings suggest that the availability of dentists in the SMSA did not increase the seeking of dental care. The fact that SMSA residents were more likely to seek care because of pain suggests that residents of non-SMSA areas were more likely to tolerate pain without seeking care. These findings underscore the need for proper behavioral and pain management during childhood.