Abstract:
Anxiety regarding dental services was one reason patients do not seek services and can result in delayed healing with the progression of oral diseases. This cross-sectional survey research aimed to study the anxiety in receiving dental services and related factors. The sample size totaled 225 early adulthood aged 25-35 years living in Wat Phleng District, Ratchaburi. Data were collected by questionnaire. The descriptive and Chi-square statistics were applied to analyze data. The level of statistical significance was set at p-value less than 0.05.The crucial findings revealed that 48.44% experienced moderate anxiety in seeking dental services, and 28.89, 13.33 and 9.33% had high, very high, and low anxiety, respectively. The behavior of dental personnel in the dental treatment room was an issue that caused concern in receiving dental services. The groups most likely to experience high levels of anxiety comprised females, those aged 33-35, self-employed with incomes of 10,000 THB or less and low levels of oral health care knowledge. Implication of this Thematic Paper: Public health services should be proactive in educating people concerning on oral health care using various channels, producing video clip to educate, dental room and providing dental room and procedure of dentistry. Through social media such as LINE, TikTok and Facebook. A surveillance can be conducted of oral health in low-income groups, self-by those employed in dental services. Dental personnel should be polite to inform the patient before initiating procedures and during the waiting time on the dental bed. They should avoid talking or tease each other, to anxiety while waiting for services.