**Conflict of interest**

be effective in reducing state anxiety [49]. Similarly, SDE, which has been utilized and proved to be effective for management of dental anxiety, is also helpful in reducing the anxiety and

**Figure 4.** A child-friendly dental surgery (picture by Jacob Francis, courtesy of Smiles dental clinic).

**Figure 3.** A patient-friendly dental clinic reception (picture by Jacob Francis, courtesy of Smiles dental clinic).

At community level, prevention of dental anxiety through giving education is a responsibility of the dental team. The education should primarily be directed to children since the onset of dental anxiety often occurs in childhood. This implies that early intervention will help to prevent the problem from extending into adulthood, but adults should also be involved. Among measures of intervention at community level, it is to inform the community on the impact of dental anxiety on individual's oral health status, oral health-care attendance, and service delivery. Another measure is to educate and discourage individuals from sharing their dental fears and/or negative dental experiences in such a way that it may influence others to develop

relaxing the patient [45].

*3.3.4. Community prevention*

44 Anxiety Disorders - From Childhood to Adulthood

The authors of this chapter declare no conflict of interest.
