Challenges of Dental Anxiety: Management and Patient Care

Dear Colleagues,

Special Issue Scope/Aims

Dental anxiety, including severe forms such as dental phobia, represents a pervasive and clinically significant challenge in general dental practice, with well-documented effects on dental attendance, treatment acceptance, and oral health outcomes. Recent evidence indicates that dental phobia is a multifactorial condition shaped by psychological, experiential, and psychosocial factors, often leading to avoidance behaviors and compromised quality of life [1–3].

This Special Issue focuses on clinical innovation in the management of dental anxiety, emphasizing practical and patient-centered strategies applicable to routine dental care. Rather than viewing dental anxiety solely through traditional behavioral or pharmacological frameworks, this Special Issue aims to highlight emerging clinical concepts, innovative care models, and practice-level solutions that enhance patient comfort, trust, and safety in contemporary dental settings.

Rationale for the Special Issue

Despite longstanding recognition of dental anxiety and dental phobia, many current management strategies remain insufficiently integrated into daily clinical practice. While psychological interventions such as cognitive behavioral therapy have demonstrated efficacy, their implementation in general dental settings remains limited, and evidence for complementary or pharmacological approaches is fragmented [2,3].

Moreover, patients with dental phobia have been shown to experience significantly poorer oral health-related quality of life, emphasizing that dental anxiety is not merely a psychological concern but a clinically relevant determinant of oral health outcomes [4].

This Special Issue therefore responds to an unmet need by encouraging innovative, practice-oriented, and exploratory research that bridges the gap between theory and real-world dental care, and that rethinks how dental anxiety is addressed in an era of changing patient expectations and increasing clinical complexity.

Uniqueness of the Special Issue

This Special Issue uniquely positions dental anxiety and dental phobia as drivers for clinical innovation in general dentistry, promoting new, practice-level solutions that advance patient-centered care beyond conventional paradigms.

Topics of Interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Epidemiology and clinical impact of dental anxiety and dental phobia;
• Patient perspectives and psychosocial determinants of dental fear;
• Communication strategies and shared decision-making;
• Clinical environment, workflow, and anxiety reduction;
• Pharmacological approaches to dental anxiety management, including sedation and anxiolytic strategies;
• Non-pharmacological and minimally invasive approaches to anxiety management;
• Patient safety and comfort during routine dental care;
• Dental anxiety in patients with special healthcare needs;
• Pediatric and geriatric considerations;
• Innovative clinical concepts and feasibility research;
• Development and evaluation of practice-oriented guidelines.

Types of Articles Welcome:
Original research articles;
Clinical studies and pilot or feasibility studies;
Systematic and scoping reviews;
Narrative reviews and clinical perspectives.

Expected Impact:
By integrating contemporary evidence on dental anxiety and dental phobia with clinically relevant innovation, this Special Issue aims to provide general dentists with forward-looking, evidence-informed strategies that improve patient experience, safety, and access to dental care.

References

1. Piechal, A.; Siekierska, E.; Blecharz-Klin, K. Etiology of dental anxiety and dental phobia: A review. Eur. J. Dent. 2026, 20, 13–22.
2. Steenen, S.A.; Linke, F.; van Westrhenen, R.; de Jongh, A. Interventions to reduce adult state anxiety, dental trait anxiety, and dental phobia: A systematic review and meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials. J. Anxiety. Disord. 2024, 105, 102891.
3. Geddis-Regan, A.; Fisal, A.B.A.; Bird, J.; Fleischmann, I.; Mac Giolla Phadraig, C. Experiences of dental behaviour support techniques: A qualitative systematic review. Community Dent. Oral Epidemiol. 2024, 52, 660–676. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdoe.12969.
4. Birkas, B.; Kiss, B.L.; Coelho, C.M.; Rahvard, P.P.; Zsido, A.N. Primacy vs. recency effects: the dominant role of recent over past dental experience in dental anxiety. BMC Oral Health 2026. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12903-026-03682-8.

Dr. Takao Ayuse
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Dentistry Journal is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• epidemiology and clinical impact of dental anxiety and dental phobia
• patient perspectives and psychosocial determinants of dental fear
• communication strategies and shared decision-making
• clinical environment, workflow, and anxiety reduction
• pharmacological approaches to dental anxiety management, including sedation and anxiolytic strategies
• non-pharmacological and minimally invasive approaches to anxiety management
• patient safety and comfort during routine dental care
• dental anxiety in patients with special healthcare needs
• pediatric and geriatric considerations
• innovative clinical concepts and feasibility research
• development and evaluation of practice-oriented guidelines