Anxiety and blood pressure prior to dental treatment.

Assessed dental anxiety and blood pressure immediately prior to a dental appointment in 24 patients attending a university dental clinic or a clinic for anxious dental patients in the Netherlands. Blood pressure was assessed by 2 independent methods, and the interchangeability of the blood-pressure measurement methods was also assessed. Ss completed 3 self-assessment inventories for dental anxiety, including the Dental Anxiety Scale. No relationship was demonstrated among scores on the dental anxiety questionnaires and blood-pressure values. The blood-pressure measurement methods delivered comparable values for diastolic and mean arterial blood pressure only.