Medical & Clinical Reviews

Stress and Dental Problems, Assessment of Stress Levels in Patients Visiting for Dental Treatment Running Title: Stress Levels in Patients Visiting for Dental Treatment

Context and Aim: The perception of stress might influence the pathogenesis of a physical disease by causing negative affective states which, then, exert direct effects on the physiological processes and the behavioral patterns of the individual that influence the predisposing and risk factors for the given disease process. Surprisingly, this theoretical perspective has not been discussed in the perspective of odontogenic problems. The present study was planned as an attempt towards the same.

Materials and Methods: The present cross-sectional study consisted of individuals randomly selected from the Outpatient Department aged 18 years and above over duration of 6 months. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) was used to measure perception of stress.

Statistical Analysis Used: The data was analyzed using SPSS version 15.0 (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) while Chisquare/ Fisher's exact test were used to find significance of the study parameters. P-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: In the present study, data collected revealed that unskilled individuals (29.4%) sought dental treatment more than the other categories of occupational groups while a correlation between the occupation and stress showed that stress levels were considerably lower in the professional than in the non-professional groups underlying the significance of education and professional status on the perception of stress in the said individuals.

Conclusion: From the present study, it could be concluded that in most of the cases, stress and dental problems are lying together as aggravating factors for one another. While there are promising treatments for stress, the management of stress is mostly dependent on the ability and willingness of an individual to make necessary changes for a healthy lifestyle which, in turn, reduces the risk factors for further aggravating the vicious cycle of health-related issues.

Author(s):

Abhishek Singh Nayyar

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