Purpose: To investigate the relationship between anxiety and pain perception in the context of implant surgery and to examine the impact of factors such as gender and surgery duration on anxiety and pain levels.
Methods: One hundred twenty-one patients undergoing implant surgery evaluated their anxiety and pain levels by completing a set of 2 questionnaires at different points in time.
Results: Both anxiety and pain levels were highest on the day of surgery and showed a significant decrease when evaluated retrospectively (P < 0.01; P < 0.05). Correlations were found between preoperative anxiety and expected pain levels (r = 0.19), pain peak and duration of pain (r = 0.79), and a nearly significant correlation between preoperative anxiety and duration of pain (r = 0.18). Women showed significantly higher levels of preoperative anxiety (P < 0.05) and expected pain (P < 0.05) than men.
Conclusion: The results confirm a strong negative impact of increased preoperative anxiety levels on pain perception and the recovery process. Therefore, future research should focus on individual patient's sources of dental anxiety to reduce its negative consequences.