Impact of career choice motivation on academic burnout in senior dental students: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Motivation triggers all human activities including learning and lack of career motivation can lead to decreased efficiency. This study assessed the association between academic burnout and career choice motivation in senior dental students. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was performed on senior dental students of all four dental schools in Tehran in 2017. Dental students voluntarily filled out a 33-item questionnaire that comprised three sections. The first section included the Burnout Clinical Subtype Questionnaire (BCSQ-SS) with 12 questions addressing academic burnout. The second section consisted of 8 questions about career choice motivation, and the third section concentrated on 13 questions dealing with demographics. The individual scores of each section and the total scores were reported. The factor analysis of 8 questions about dental career choice motivation yielded 3 factors of social status and security, altruism, and others' advice motivations. The data were analyzed using regression test. RESULTS: Totally, 131 students filled out the questionnaire (response rate = 86%). The total score of academic burnout was 38.89% ± 1.13%. The highest and the lowest burnout scores belonged to the domains of "overload" (46.69%± 1.46%) and "neglect" (31.98%± 1.32%), respectively. The most and the least frequently mentioned source of motivation for choosing dentistry were high income and failing to enter other fields, respectively. The burnout score was higher in students with altruism motivations (P = 0.007) and lower in students with others' advice motivations (P = 0.004). The burnout score was higher in students with inadequate or moderate financial support from the family and lower in students whose mothers' educational level was high-school diploma or lower. CONCLUSION: Senior dental students in Tehran encountered different levels of academic burnout. In the present study, low financial support and altruism as career choice motivations were associated with higher level of academic burnout.

In vitro Effect of 810 nm and 940 nm Diode Laser Irradiation on Proliferation of Human Gingival Fibroblasts and Expression of Procollagen Gene.

Factors promoting fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis can subsequently enhance wound healing. This study aimed to assess the effect of 810 and 940 nm diode laser on fibroblast proliferation and procollagen gene expression. In this study, human gingival fibroblasts were cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium and underwent 810 and 940 nm diode laser irradiation once, twice, thrice and four times at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days after culture. The methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay was performed to assess the proliferation while the real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to assess the expression of procollagen gene at the mRNA level. We applied two-way ANOVA and Tukey's test for analysis. Wavelength had no significant effect on the proliferation of gingival fibroblasts, but increasing the number of irradiation sessions of both wavelengths increased the proliferation of human gingival fibroblasts. Significant differences were noted in the number of human gingival fibroblasts between groups irradiated 1 and 4 and also 2 and 4 times. Procollagen gene was well expressed in all groups but its expression was significantly higher in 940 nm laser group after four irradiation cycles. Four times radiation of 940 nm laser seems to be more effective than all others.