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Mental health and wellbeing interventions in the dental sector: a systematic review

Evidence-Based Dentistry (2022)Cite this article

Abstract

Introduction UK dentists experience high levels of stress, anxiety and burnout. Poor mental health can lead practitioners to exit the profession, contributing to workforce and service loss. Therefore, there is a need to focus on interventions to protect the mental health and wellbeing of dental teams. Three levels of intervention can be deployed in the workplace to support mental health and wellbeing: primary prevention, secondary prevention, and tertiary prevention.

Aim The aim of this systematic review was to identify evidence on interventions used to prevent, improve or tackle mental health issues among dental team members and dental profession students in countries of very high development.

Methods This systematic review was conducted according to a predefined protocol and reported according to PRISMA guidelines. The MEDLINE, Embase CINAHL, DOSS, Scopus, and PsycINFO databases were searched. Prospective empirical studies were considered for inclusion. The Effective Public Health Practice Project Quality Assessment Tool (EPHPP) was used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. The identified interventions were categorised according to level of prevention.

Results The search yielded 12,919 results. Eight studies met the inclusion criteria. All of the studies concerned dentists or dental students. There were no studies for other groups of dental professionals. No primary prevention-level studies were identified. Secondary prevention-level studies (n = 4) included various psychoeducational interventions aiming to raise awareness and improve coping skills and led to significant improvements in stress levels and burnout of dentists and dental students. Tertiary prevention-level studies (n = 4) mainly employed counselling which was shown to be beneficial for dentists and students experiencing psychological ill-health.

Conclusions Mental wellbeing awareness should be put at the centre of dental education and the workplace. Leadership and innovation are required to design primary-level interventions which can be implemented in the UK dental sector, with its distinct organisational and service characteristics.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Plymouth, Peninsula Dental School, Faculty of Health, Plymouth, UK

    Anastasios Plessas, Martha Paisi, Lorna Burns, Timothy O’Brien & Robert Witton

  2. University of Plymouth, Peninsula Medical School, Faculty of Health, Plymouth, UK

    Marie Bryce

  3. University of Southampton, Business School, Southampton, UK

    Yaniv Hanoch

Authors
  1. Anastasios Plessas
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  2. Martha Paisi
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  3. Marie Bryce
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  4. Lorna Burns
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  5. Timothy O’Brien
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  6. Yaniv Hanoch
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  7. Robert Witton
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Contributions

AP: First reviewer: review protocol, study selection, critical appraisal, data extraction, data synthesis, production of draft manuscript. MP: Second reviewer: study selection, critical appraisal, data extraction, data synthesis, and critical review of manuscript. MB: Third reviewer: available to resolve disagreement if consensus could not be reached, methodology advice, critical review of manuscript. LB: Information specialist: search strategy and electronic searches, management of citations, critical review of manuscript. ToB: Input in discussion (implications for education, practice and policy), critical review of manuscript. YH: psychology-related expertise, critical review of manuscript. RW: Input in discussion (implications for education, practice and policy); critical review of manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Anastasios Plessas.

Ethics declarations

The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This research is an update of a bigger project commissioned by the General Dental Council (GDC): 'Mental Health and Wellbeing in Dentistry: A Rapid Evidence Assessment'. The views and opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the GDC.

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Plessas, A., Paisi, M., Bryce, M. et al. Mental health and wellbeing interventions in the dental sector: a systematic review. Evid Based Dent (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41432-022-0831-0

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