This study explores the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of Corah's Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS), an instrument designed to assess the manifestations of dental anxiety. The DAS has been translated into several languages, but no adaptation and reliability analysis of the Portuguese version of the scale has yet been carried out. A total of 747 Brazilian undergraduate students participated in this study. The instrument proved to have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Furthermore, we observed that women are more anxious during dental treatment routines compared to men. Our findings suggest that the Portuguese version of DAS is a reliable instrument for assessing adults' dental anxiety traits, and can be used for both clinical and research purposes.
2006 Wiley-Liss, Inc