Stress Factors in Dental Students of Babol University

Objective: Dental profession is associated with a high level of stress experienced by clinicians in private practice as well as students and instructors in dental school environment. The purpose of this study was to detect the main stressors in dental students of School of dentistry, Babol University of Medical Sciences in 2011-2012. Methods: In this descriptive, analytical study, data were collected via Dental Environment Stress (DES) questionnaire. Understudy subjects were all dental students in Babol University (n=199) selected by census sampling. Data were analyzed using chi-square and t-tests. Results: Six factors were found to be the main stressors in dental students: 1. More than one exam in the same day (2.76 (0.596)); 2.Insufficient time interval between exams (2.74 (0.581)); 3. Insufficient exam time (2.62 (0.693)); 4.Instructors humiliating students or showing their dissatisfaction of the procedure done by the students in front of patients (2.61 (0.618)); 5.Too many credits offered per semester (2.35 (0.849)) and 6. In appropriate behavior of the staff (2.33 (0.793)). Of all departments in Babol Dental School, departments of Prosthodontics, Radiology and Endodontics caused the highest level of stress and anxiety in students and had statistically significant differences in this regard with other departments. Conclusion: The stressors had greater impacts on female students particularly the fourth year dental students. Attempts must be made to modify the curricula and exam schedules particularly in the most stressful departments to decrease the level of stress in dental students.