Aim. Dentists have been significantly impacted by the spread of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, demonstrating changes in many lifestyle aspects, elevated levels of psychological distress, and greater risk to experience burnout symptoms. This study was therefore conducted to analyze levels of burnout dimensions and any possible association of theirs with lifestyle patterns of dental professionals. Materials and method. An online cross-sectional observational survey was carried out among 1,405 practising dentists from Bulgaria, who filled out demographic data, workplace, lifestyle and pandemic-related questions, and the 22-item validated version of Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI). Survey results were processed using IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0. Significance level was set at p<0.05. Results and discussion. 387 participants were included in the analysis (response rate 27.5%). Dentists who had no hobbies or spare time activities (13.4%) demonstrated high levels of emotional exhaustion (28.17±13.2) and very high depersonalization (14.12±5.48), p<0.001. Almost half of the respondents (46.0%) experienced insomnia or sleeping disturbances, which had a significant effect on EE and DP subscales, corresponding to a high rate of burnout (p<0.001). Regular use of anxiolytics, antidepressants or hypnotics was significantly related to very high EE (43.13±4.80) and DP (15.13±5.04) sum scores and the high dimension of performance loss (p<0.001). Conclusions. Individuals demonstrating positive lifestyle choices had significantly lower EE and DP sum scores, and better assessments of PA. A thorough understanding of these lifestyle factors can play an important role in early identification and prevention of burnout symptoms, reducing burnout levels and improving mental well-being of dentists.
Keywords:- burnout
- covid-19
- dentists
- lifestyle
- pandemic