Dental Anxiety Before Non-Surgical Periodontal Treatment: Evaluating the Interaction of Gender and Education Level.

PURPOSE: Dental anxiety is a multidimensional factor that influences treatment compliance and periodontal outcomes. This investigation evaluated how gender, educational level, and their combined interaction relate to dental anxiety in a sample of patients receiving initial non-surgical periodontal therapy (Phase I), minimizing potential confounding effects from procedural differences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study included 200 volunteers (100 females, 100 males) who received Phase I periodontal therapy. The required sample size was estimated using G*Power analysis to achieve a statistical power of 95%. Dental anxiety was assessed using the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). Age homogeneity between genders was confirmed using the independent samples t-test. Data were analyzed using two-way ANOVA, the Games-Howell post-hoc test, and simple effects analysis. Effect sizes were determined via partial eta squared (partial η²). RESULTS: No statistically significant difference in mean age was found between genders (p = 0.890). Two-way ANOVA revealed no statistically significant main effect for gender (p = 0.683) or educational level (p = 0.315). However, a statistically significant interaction effect with a large effect size was observed between gender and educational level (F(3,192) = 13.237; p 0.001; partial η2= 0.171). Simple effects analysis demonstrated that anxiety levels statistically significantly decreased as educational level increased in females (partial η² = 0.197), whereas in males, anxiety levels paradoxically increased with higher education (partial η² = 0.175). CONCLUSION: The impact of education on dental anxiety is not uniform but is statistically significantly modulated by gender. These findings emphasize the necessity of moving beyond standardized communication toward a customized, gender- and education-tailored chairside approach to optimize compliance during non-surgical periodontal therapy.