A structured interview for assessing dental fear
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Human Fear Conditioning Conducted in Full Immersion 3-Dimensional Virtual Reality
Published on: August 9, 2010
Abstract:
Ninety-six students responded to a dental fear questionnaire. Several weeks later they responded to a structured Dental Fear Interview and repeated the questionnaire. Fifteen additional students also responded to the interview and questionnaire. Each of two raters derived fear intensity- and adaptive-impairment scores from each set of interview notes. Inter-rater correlations for both intensity and impairment were high. Interview fear and impairment ratings correlated highly with same-day fear questionnaire results. The interview ratings also discriminated high from low scorers on the initial questionnaire. The Dental Fear Interview is recommended for research and for encouraging clinical development.
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