Impact of high-speed handpiece noise-induced dental anxiety on heart rate: analyzing experienced and non-experienced patients - a comparative study.

BACKGROUND: Dental anxiety is very much common among the patients and could be due to different factors like the behavior of the dentist, past experiences, Needle phobia, or word of mouth from other patients. According to recent studies, a strong association between sound and anxiety has been found, so this observational study has been conducted to find out the link between the activation of anxiety with the sound of a handpiece between experienced patients, who have already gone through the dental treatments and non-experienced patients. METHODS: Total of 297 participants were part of this study. These participants were divided into 2 groups according to the experienced and non-experienced dental patients. The researcher first filled out the CORAH Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) form to mark the anxiety level of the patients, and then noted the readings of the heart rate in 3 intervals which were before during, and after the treatment with the pulse oximeter. Later the data was analysed using the SPSS independent t-test. RESULTS: Results show that patients in group 1 who have gone through the dental treatment before were less anxious and had a lesser effect on their heart rate than the patient who were having the treatment for the first time who were in group 2. Another interesting factor was noticed that in both the groups female were found to be more anxious than male participants. Participants with younger age were found to be more anxious than older age patient in both groups CONCLUSIONS: The sound of the handpiece can provoke anxiety in the patient, affecting the heart and increasing the heart rate. Participants who were experienced were found to be less anxious than the participants who were inexperienced.

Predicament Of Doctors; Discerning Burnout Level Amongst Surgical Residents Of Karachi, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Stress and burnout have been soaring among doctors. It does not only have deleterious effects during working hours but also impact personal lives of the doctors. The primary focus of this study is to gauge level of burnout among surgical residents working in two major tertiary care hospital of Karachi, Pakistan. METHODS: This was a cross sectional study comprising of 118 candidates who completed the questionnaire based on demographics variables, professional details and Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI), which scores the burnout level on the basis of three components namely emotional exhaustion, depersonalization and personal accomplishment. The duration of study was one month starting from 1st January to 31st January 2019. Residents working in Department of General Surgery were part of inclusion criteria. Consultants and medical students met the exclusion criteria. Data was analysed by SPSS-23. RESULTS: Mean MBI score was 57.15 with mean scores of Emotional Fatigue, Personal Fulfilment and Depersonalization were 22.42, 19.89 and 14.81 respectively. In terms of emotional fatigue, female residents (49.2%) were more likely to suffer than their male counterpart (50.8%) (p=0.018). Married residents (37.3%) tend to have higher mean personal fulfilment scores (p=0.02). Residents who were living alone (31%) have higher mean depersonalization score (p=0.02). With respect to personal factors, higher MBI scores were observed among doctors who were married, worked about 75-90 hours and remain sleep-deprived and those who were not able to sustain their families financially. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of higher MBI scores in married, sleep deprived residents who were working for extensive hours and felt financial constraints, there is an extensive need of comprehensive support groups, humane number of working hours, improved salary packages, de-stressing activities like sports etc. to ameliorate the mental health of resident physicians and enhance their productivity.