Improving Clinical Practice: What Dentists Need to Know about the Association between Dental Fear and a History of Sexual Violence Victimisation

Table 2

Publications included in the analysis.

ID	Reference	Year	Participants number and age	Setting and location	Research design	Variable	Prevalence	Specific findings
1	[17]	1996	462 F,; 18–45 y	Clinical,; Seattle, USA	Mixed method	Dental fear, CSA, CPA, CN, ASA, and APA	High dental fear = 25.5%	High levels of dental fear in women are significantly associated with CSPA, CN, and ASPA.
2	[16]	2001	99 F,; 17–67 y	Clinical, Norway	Quantitative	Dental fear, CSPA, and ASPA	Extreme dental fear: ST group = 23.1%,; IC group = 29.3%, and; OP group = 52.3%	OP during SV was found to be predictive of the development of dental fear.
3	[18]	2004	108 F,; 20–60 y	Clinical, Norway	Quantitative	Dental fear, CSA	Women with CSA = 53.7%	Participants in fear and abuse group reported higher levels of dental fear in comparison with other groups.; Concerning dental problems, fear and abuse and fear only group indicated more problems than the control group.
4	[19]	1997	181 F	Clinical and community,; USA	Quantitative	CSA	Women with CSA = 72.9%	(i) History of CSA is associated with current women’s dental experiences.; (ii) Dental fear is associated with a history of sexual violence victimisation.
5	[15]	2005	58 M and 19 F,; 24–62 y	Clinical, Canada	Qualitative	CSA	All participants were sexually abused	People who have experienced sexual violence often dissociate as a way of coping with overwhelming stimuli.
6	[11]	2007	255 F,; mean 38.65	Clinical and community, Germany	Quantitative	CSA	Combination of SA and PA in women with CSA = 66%; PA in women with CSA = 92.9%	(i) History of CSA is associated with increased dental fear.; (ii) CSA experiences may increase psychological strain during dental treatment.
7	[20]	2006	240 M and F,; 19–79 y	Clinical, Netherland	Quantitative	Dental anxiety, SV	HDA = 58.75%	Participants with HDA were more likely to have experienced SV as those with LDA.
8	[21]	2009	1462 M and F,; 18–85 y	Community, Germany	Quantitative	Dental anxiety, SV	SV = 4.6%	The rates of high dental fear related to the SV experience among those participants were 11.9% and 4.5%, respectively.
9	[22]	2011	1024 students,; 16–60 y	Community, UK	Quantitative	Dental anxiety, SV	HDA = 11.2%	Significant prevalence of high dental anxiety was found among participants who experienced SV.
10	[23]	2004	16 M and 14 F,; 20–65 y	Clinical, Denmark	Qualitative	Dental anxiety, SV, and embarrassment	SV = 10%	Severe dental fear is associated with remarkable psychological impairment due to avoidance of routine dental checkups and treatments and subsequently deteriorating individuals’ oral hygiene.

APA: adult physical abuse; ASA: adult sexual abuse; CN: child neglect; ASPA: adult sexual and physical abuse; CPA: child physical abuse; CSA: child sexual abuse; CSPA: child sexual and physical abuse; F: female; HDA: high dental anxiety; IC: intercourse; LDA: low dental anxiety; M: male; OP: oral penetration; PA: physical abuse; SV: sexual violence; ST: sexual touching.