Assessment of Stress among Doctors of Dental MedicineProcjena razine stresa doktora dentalne medicine Uvod Stres je pojam koji označava stanje organizma u kojem doživljavamo prijetnju svojem integritetu (1,2). Podražaje koji ga uzrokuju nazivamo stresorima. Ako između stresora ne postoji razdoblje potrebno za oporavak nego se nižu jedan za drugim, pojavljuje se kronični stres koji izaziva ozbiljne zdravstvene posljedice (2, 3). Reakcija pojedinaca na stres rezultat je individualne osjetljivosti, načina svladavanja poteškoća, cjelokupnog zdravstvenog stanja, vanjskih utjecaja i stresora (2, 4). Reakcije mogu biti psihološke, ponašajne i fiziološke (5).Svjetska zdravstvena organizacija proglasila je stres na radnome mjestu svjetskom epidemijom (6, 7). Svako radno mjesto može biti rizično za pojavu određenih bolesti, ali određena se zanimanja smatraju stresnijima, a među njima i zanimanje doktora dentalne medicine (2, 8). Stomatolozima mnogi čimbenici na poslu mogu potaknuti stres. Neki od njih su klinički rad, nepovoljni radni uvjeti, rad s nervoznim i anksioznim pacijentima, rad koji nerijetko pacijentu uzrokuje bol, vremenski pritisak i ograničenja te izloženost promjenama koje nužno nameću kontinuiranu izobrazbu radi što boljeg obavljanja radnih zadataka. To su opći stresori s koji-Abstract Introduction: The workplace can be a source of stress. One of the most stressful professions is the profession of doctor of dental medicine (dentist). Multiple forms of stressors lead to such occupational stress. Objective: The research objective was to examine stress levels among dentists in the 25 to 45 year age group. Materials and Methods: This cross sectional study included 105 doctors of dental medicine throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina, aged between 25 and 45 years. The research was conducted by means of a confidential on-line survey. All participants signed the informed consent, and voluntarily filled out the survey form. The research used the PERCEIVED STRESS SCALE-PSS 10. The statistical analysis used the IBM Statistics SPSS v.21 statistics packages and Microsoft Excel 2010. Descriptive statistics, X2 test, and T-test were also used. Results: Of the total number of respondents, n=105, 66 (63%) of them were female and 39 (37%) male respondents. The mean median value of the score was 23 (Mean = 23.080), as a result of which we can conclude that the respondents in the 25-45 year age population group that participated in this study showed a high level of stress based on the completed questionnaire and the answers received from the respondents. Conclusion: The estimated level of stress has been shown to be high in both genders, with no statistically significant difference between genders.