Stress a determinant for bruxism in medical students-a qualitative and quantitative assessment.

Abstract

Abstract- Background-Bruxism is an oral habit consisting of involuntary rhythmic or spasmodic nonfunctional gnashing, grinding, or clenching of teeth, unlike chewing movements of the mandible, which may lead to occlusal trauma. There are many scientific reports about the coexistence of bruxism, stress. Objective- the purpose of this study is to assess the development of symptoms of bruxism due to stress in medical students and to evaluate the correlation between occurrence of bruxism and perceived stress. Methodology- A mixed method survey questionnaire was prepared regarding questions based on scientific evidence of co-relation between bruxism, stress and stress faced by medical students. This survey based questionnaire was circulated digitally pan India and the respondents were undergraduate, post graduate students and junior and senior residents from different medical institutions. Therefore a random sample of 300 participants was selected, and gender, age, stress factors specific results were derived. Result- 14.7% of students are suffering from moderate bruxism and 85.3% of students suffering from severe bruxism due to stress. The test result showed that stress was main factor affecting the habit of bruxism with chi square value 12.39 and p value is 0.006. Conclusion- The study found that majority of the participating medical students reported to have bruxism majorly due to stress and Corelated variables majorly responsible for stress are large course of study, competition in this field, overthinking about the study related problems and uncertainty of result what is expected and do not feel happy with their own work performance.