Dental Students Stress during Clinical Restorative Procedures: A Saudi-Based Study

The study aims to assess the clinical restorative dental procedures’ impact on the stress levels of Saudi dental students and explore variations in student year levels, genders, and restorative procedures.

An observational cross-sectional study was conducted using census sampling in 2023 at the College of Dentistry, University of Ha’il, Saudi Arabia. Out of 120 students, 105 completed the questionnaire. This questionnaire comprised thirteen questions that assessed stress levels using a 7-point Likert scale categorized into three types of dental procedures: diagnosis, operative, and endodontics. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis, and Friedman tests were used to explore gender, students' year levels, and restorative category variations.

The response rate was 87.5% of all students. The students’ stress levels declined for all year levels and categories. No significant gender differences were found, except for fifth-year female students who reported higher stress levels in the endodontic category (p =.032). There were no significant differences in students' stress levels, except for third-year students, who reported higher stress levels in the operative category than fifth-year students (p =.01). The operative and endodontic categories had significantly higher impacts on perceived stress levels among all students compared to the diagnostic category (p =.001, p =.001, respectively).

The stress levels were declining as students advanced in academic year levels with variations in different restorative procedures with no significant overall gender differences. The findings recommend curriculum adjustments and targeted support for dental students.