The Impact of Restarting the High-Risk Procedures for COVID-19 Infection in Dental Practice on the Anxiety of Dental Employees: A Study with Repeated Measures.

Autor: Kirli MC; Department of Endodontics, Faculty of Dentistry, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey., Kirli U; Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Yuzuncu Yil University, Van, Turkey; School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nigerian journal of clinical practice [Niger J Clin Pract] 2021 Sep; Vol. 24 (9), pp. 1391-1396.
DOI: 10.4103/njcp.njcp_659_20
Abstrakt: Background: As SARS-CoV-2 is detected in the infected patients' saliva, dental employees performing aerosol-generating procedures are at high risk of being infected/spreading the infection.
Aims: This study aimed to assess the impact of restarting the high-risk procedures for COVID-19 infection in dental practice during the pandemic on the anxiety levels of dental employees.
Methods: All dental employees (dentists, nurses, data entry/cleaning staff) working in a university dental clinic were invited to the study and eighty-one employees (response rate: 97.5%) participated in the study. The volunteers' anxiety was measured consecutively twice with the State-Trait Anxiety Scale: First, on the day prior to restarting the high-risk procedures and the second, on the day these procedures began. Data were analyzed using t tests and the repeated measures ANOVA.
Results: The state anxiety level of the dental employees increased significantly on the day that the high risk procedures were restarted (mean 42.6 vs. 49.0, d = 0.6, P < 0.001). Concerning the subgroups, the increase in state anxiety levels was significant for females (t = 3,7; d = 0,8; P < 0.001), dentists working in departments of endodontics and restorative dental care (t = 3,5; d = 0,9; P < 0.001) and nurses (t = 2,8; d = 0,9; P < 0.001). The analysis showed no significant difference in trait anxiety levels between the assessment days (mean 44.0 vs. 44.2, P = 0.9).
Conclusions: Restarting the high-risk procedures for COVID-19 infection in dental practice during the pandemic seems to be an extra stressor for dental employees' who already have high anxiety levels during the pandemic.
Competing Interests: None
Databáze: MEDLINE