The anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex are associated with avoidance of dental treatment based on prior experience of treatment in healthy adults

Table 1 Customized questionnaire for dental avoidance

No.	Dental procedure^a	(A) Having received the procedure? (yes/no)	(B) Avoidance: 0–10
1	Receiving a local anesthetic injection in the mouth
2	Having a painful tooth tapped by the dentist
3	Having a primary tooth (milk teeth) extracted in the childhood
4	Receiving ultrasonic scaling for removing dental stone
5	A molar being drilled to remove caries
6	Receiving a root canal treatment
7	Having a wisdom tooth extracted by surgery
8	Feeling painful hypersensitivity when rinsing cold water
9	A caries tooth being explored with a dental instrument
10	Having the swelling gum incised and pus drained
11	Feeling excruciating postoperative pain; not being relieved even with painkillers
12	Receiving a wedge and band in between the teeth during restoration

Instruction: For each of the following dental procedures, please indicate if you have received it or not, by marking ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ in the column (A), and rate the degree that you would avoid receiving the procedure in the column (B). The rating should be given by a number between 0 and 10 (0 = the least/10 = the maximal degree). If you have received the procedure before, please rate avoidance based on your past experience of the procedure. If you have not experienced the procedure, please rate avoidance based on your imagination about it
^aThe items No. 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 were modified from the Fear of Dental Pain questionnaire
^bScoring method: Experience-based avoidance = mean avoidance ratings (B) from the items that are marked as ‘Yes’ in (A); Imagination-based avoidance = mean avoidance ratings (B) from the items that are marked as ‘No’ in (A)

ISSN: 1471-2202