*3.2.3. Environmental perspective*

Dental environment is generally perceived by patients to be unfriendly, offensive, and anxietyprovoking, especially so by anxious patients. The looks of the dental chair and its accessories may not give an appealing first impression. Smell of the medicaments as well as invasive contact in the mouth, sound of the drill, sight of blood are some of the situations that most patients may have difficulties to tolerate [45]. The dental environment condition, coupled with the nature and duration of dental treatment procedures, may bring about or amplify patient dental anxiety. This situation will interfere with delivery of dental care. It is, therefore, the responsibility of the dental team to make sure that the dental environment is friendly to patients with or without dental anxiety.
