Assessment of Stress Level among Dental Undergraduate Students: A Questionnaire Survey

Introduction: Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain resulting from adverse or demanding circumstances. Student’s life imposes inevitable stress, which involves physiological and practical challenges. Dentistry is a stressful profession resulting in anxiety, depression, burnout, etc. Aims: The aim was to assess the various sources of stress, any particular stressor related to the year of study and gender and to determine the role of parents in inducing stress in students. Materials and Methods: A total of 96 undergraduates students were included in our study and stress was measured using modified dental environment stress questionnaire and Likert scale with response options as: (1) Not stressful, (2) slightly stressful, (3) moderately stressful, and (4) severely stressful. Results: The primary top stressors were fear of failing, need to find own patients. Students whose secondary choice of joining dentistry due to parental pressure showed high-stress factor than those who joined of their self-interest. Male students experienced greater stress than females. Conclusion: Appropriate environment needs to be created to relieve the stress in undergraduate students and also parents should not force their children in their career decision.