The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health of dentists in Wales

Abstract

This study aimed to gain both an understanding of the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has been having on the mental health of dentists working in Wales, as well as understanding the levels of stress the pandemic has caused. We also aimed to understand the specific causes of stress. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a large impact on dentistry across Wales and almost all aspects of the profession have been affected. Workloads have significantly changed, as well as the way patients can be treated. The pandemic has also affected dentistry differently as it has progressed. The Welsh government's pandemic red phase massively impacted the work of community dental service (CDS) dentists who set up and treated patients in urgent dental care and who continue to do so. It also greatly changed the day-to-day work of the general dental services (GDSs) and created financial concerns for dental practices as businesses. In particular, private dentistry was financially impacted with very limited relief from any government schemes. Redeployment within the NHS has also taken place throughout the pandemic and public health dentistry had to focus on the pandemic with oral health programmes being suspended since March 2020. At the time of writing, 18 months on from the start of the pandemic and seven months since the survey was completed, dentistry is still operating within the Welsh government's pandemic low amber restrictions, with continuing enhanced infection control measures causing limits on patient throughput. Practices and clinics have also had to adapt to the various changes COVID-19 has brought; from enhanced personal protective equipment (PPE) becoming the norm, to the need for minimum air changes and fallow periods following aerosol generating procedures. Increased requirements for decontamination have also become routine. However, there is nothing normal or routine about dentistry in a pandemic and we heard many anecdotes of how working conditions were affecting the stress levels and morale of dentists and their teams in both the GDS and CDS. We decided a full investigation was needed in order to highlight the longer-term effects of the pandemic and altered working conditions on dentists' mental health. Data on dentists' mental health over the course of the pandemic were limited. However, the British Dental Association's Health Assured Service saw a 575% rise in calls for counselling. This study aimed to gather essential data on the mental health of dentists in

Psychological impact on dental students and professionals in a Lima population during COVID-19s wave: a study with predictive models

“…In addition, they also reported that having family members or relatives with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 was one of the risk factors for depression and stress. Regarding age, our findings agree with Owen et al 21 who indicated lower levels of stress in the 18–24 age group compared to other age groups. However, they differ with Nayak et al 43 who reported that those aged 30 years and younger had higher levels compared to the other age groups.…”

“…However, they differ with Nayak et al 43 who reported that those aged 30 years and younger had higher levels compared to the other age groups. This is probably because Nayak et al 43 conducted their study between May and June 2020 unlike Owen et al 21 and the present study which were conducted in 2021. The timing of the survey may have influenced the lack of resilience of younger people in this complex circumstance 48 and the lack of socialization 49 , 50 generating a greater psychological impact.…”

“…It has been reported that prolonged and untreated psychological disorders would result in high levels of burnout in the future 11 , 21 , 34 , 35 . This study is important because some sociodemographic factors have been found to predict the development of depression in dental students and stress in dental students and professionals using two predictive models in students and one predictive model in Peruvian dental professionals, after they faced the highest COVID-19 fatality rate worldwide during the second wave of infection 16 .…”

“…Anxiety has been defined as a physiological response of the organism to counteract or override an imminent threat or danger 20 , 21 ; while stress has been defined as the set of neuroendocrine, immunological, emotional and behavioral responses to situations that demand greater adaptation than usual 21 , 22 . Depression has been defined as a state of emotional pain, unhappiness or sadness that manifests as a reaction to an unpleasant event or situation 22 , 23 .…”

Estimation of Factors Affecting Burnout in Greek Dentists before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…The prevalence of burnout in dentists was another issue thoroughly investigated during the pandemic and found significant discrepancies. Dentists’ anxiety-related symptoms were, in general, aggravated, reaching in some cases more than 70% [ 14 ], their depression-related symptoms had overcome 60% [ 14 ], and stress was over 80% [ 14 , 26 , 27 ]. It was reported that only 27% of dentists announced significant depressive symptomatology [ 28 ], which makes us wonder about different factors influencing locally, ethnically, or culturing the phenomenon.…”