Dental fear among transgender individuals ‐ a cross‐sectional survey

AIMS: The aims of this study were to: (1) evaluate the level of dental fear among transgender individuals and (2) investigate specific predictors of dental fear in individuals who identify as transgender. METHOD AND RESULTS: An anonymous survey among transgender adults was conducted using both a web-based and paper survey. The survey included the Dental Fear Survey (DFS), history of hormonal interventions, perceived gender roles, and demographic information. The bivariate analyses did not show a significant difference in DFS between sex assigned at birth (p = 0.628) or among gender identities (p = 0.109). A regression model analysis for the level of DFS by using participants' demographic information as independent variables indicated the fear and experience of discrimination/maltreatment were significant predictors of dental fear; standardized beta coefficients (p-value) were 0.35 (p = 0.017) and 0.28 (p = 0.041), respectively. CONCLUSION: The fear and experiences of discrimination/maltreatment were significantly positively associated with their level of dental fear.