Perceived stress and self-reported bruxism in medical and dental students: a cross-sectional study using the...

The aims of the study were to investigate the relationship between perceived stress and self-reported bruxism among medical and dental students and whether dental students will have higher levels of self-reported bruxism.

A cross-sectional survey study was carried out at the University of Connecticut Health Center over a 2-month period. There was a total of 175 participants-70 dental students and 105 medical students. Covariate adjusted analyses were conducted using Ordered Beta regression to compare the outcome measures between medical and dental students and Binary Logistic regression for clenching and grinding outcomes.

Perceived stress was associated with increased awareness of awake bruxism (p < .001), more bruxism-related symptoms (p < .001), and higher odds of clenching (p = .023) but was not related to grinding (p = .189) or sleep bruxism awareness (p = .296). Medical students reported higher levels of bruxism-related symptoms (p = .025) and odds of clenching (p = .034) compared to dental students.

The positive associations between perceived stress and awake bruxism awareness and bruxism-related symptoms highlight the need for stress management in reducing bruxism-related occurrences in medical and dental student populations.