Level of Stress among Final Year Dental Students while Performing Paediatric Dentistry Procedures in Riyadh City- A Cross-sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Dentistry is considered a stressful profession. Stress is defined as a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. In particular to paediatric dentistry, dental student’s anxiety and stress level is elevated to the peak as managing a child in the dental chair is a great challenge for any dentist. Aim: To evaluate self-reported levels of stress of dental students about performing different procedures in paediatric dentistry in Riyadh city. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among final year dental students in seven different dental schools in Riyadh city. The final questionnaire was used following literature review of similar studies, focus group and piloting stage. The questionnaire addressed upon stress of performing treatment on a child patient and the future specialty preference for final year dental students. Descriptive analysis was done using Microsoft Excel. The statistical analysis were performed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) (Version 22.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) and conducted at a Confidence Interval (CI) of 95%, and a significance level of 0.05. Internal consistency of the questionnaire was assessed by calculating Cronbach’s alpha. The level of significance was set at p-value <0.05. Results: The study included 176 participants of which 92 males and 84 females. A 43.8% of the dental students are not stressed of having the patient’s guardian in the clinic during the time of treatment, some are little confident in using the non-pharmacological management approaches for uncooperative child. A 54% of the students are quite stressed when performing dental treatment for preschool children. Conclusion: The current study revealed that both genders show some similarity in their answers, with the majority having no or little stress providing paediatric treatment. Dental students in Saudi Arabia were more stressed when performing pain stimulating procedures on preschool children.