[Predictive psychophysiological stress symptoms in dentists]

Dentistry has been identified as one of the most stressful occupations in which a dentist's mental and/or physical health may be affected. The objective of this study was to identify chronic psychophysiological stress symptoms in relation with the presence of high stress levels perceived in dentists at a Social Security institution in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The design was cross-sectional and analytical by means of a 2011 census consisting of 87 dentists. The Stress Profile and the Stress Symptom Inventory were applied and the analysis was performed with multiple regression.

The perceived stress levels were: high (67.8 %), medium (29.9 %) and low (2.3 %). The most frequent psychophysiological symptom of perceived high level of stress was fatigue with 51 %, and the female gender was the most affected. The existence of a meaningful association was shown between the chronic psychophysiological stress symptoms of insomnia, fatigue and the female gender, and perceived high level stress.

Early identification of the symptoms of chronic stress in dentists would favor the implementation of appropriate preventive programs to care for their health and work place security.