Abstract
Background/Objectives: Negative stories about dentists are prevalent in mass media and in social discourse. This study explores the associations between dental anxiety, negative dental stories, and negative dental experiences, and how these phenomena are related to the perception of dentists' personality traits. Methods: An anonymous electronic survey was distributed among students at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and 118 students chose to participate in the study. The questionnaire included questions on dental anxiety, negative stories about dental treatment, negative experiences of dental treatment, and ratings of dentists' personality traits. Results: Almost half of the participants (46%) had at least one negative dental experience, while the majority (80%) of the participants had heard a negative story about the dentist. There were significant differences in the ratings of dentists' personality traits based on having previous negative dental experiences and based on dental anxiety scores. Participants without negative dental experiences and with low dental anxiety rated the dentist more favorably in terms of personality traits than anxious participants or participants with negative dental experiences. Negative dental treatment experiences (OR 10.35; p < 0.001) and rating dentists as having low extraversion (OR 0.34; p < 0.05) emerged as the most important predictors of high dental anxiety. Conclusions: The interplay between negative stories about the dentist, dental anxiety, and negative dental experiences should be explored further, as well as the impact of the perceived personality traits of dental health professionals.