Abstract
Dental anxiety remains to this day an under-studied problem even though it represents one of the main obstacles to patients’ dental attendance. Through the work carried out in this doctoral thesis, several dimensions of this problem have been brought to light. “Do not scare” is comparable to “Do no harm” from the Hippocratic oath. The specificity of the dentist, a bit like the family doctor, is to maintain a long-term therapeutic relationship with his patients. It is up to us, dentists, to put everything in place to ensure a good therapeutic relationship. Other health care workers should stimulate patients to see a dentist early for preventive advice before problems arise.