Stress in dental specialists: a comparison of six clinical dental specialties.

OBJECTIVE To describe and compare the levels of stress reported by dental practitioners working within clinical dental specialties. METHOD Questionnaire survey of 220 dental practitioners identified from the General Dental Council lists of specialist practitioners in the following clinical specialties: orthodontics, paediatric dentistry, restorative dentistry, endodontics, periodontology, prosthetic dentistry. FINDINGS The clinical specialties did not differ in their reported levels of stress. Practitioners working in the field of paediatric dentistry reported the highest median levels of reported stress for three of the four scales, though this trend was not significant. CONCLUSIONS The practitioners surveyed from six clinical specialties did not experience significantly different sources of stress.