Temporomandibular Disorders, Bruxism, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategies among Medical University Students in Times of Social Isolation during Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic caught universities along with their students off-guard, enforcing online education. Fear of the unknown, disinformation, and isolation resulted in an increased stress level in the entire population. Medical university students are particularly endangered with high stress level...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-04-01
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| Series: | Healthcare |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/4/740 |
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| author | Klara Saczuk Barbara Lapinska Adam Wawrzynkiewicz Alicja Witkowska Heber Isac Arbildo-Vega Monika Domarecka Monika Lukomska-Szymanska |
| author_facet | Klara Saczuk Barbara Lapinska Adam Wawrzynkiewicz Alicja Witkowska Heber Isac Arbildo-Vega Monika Domarecka Monika Lukomska-Szymanska |
| author_sort | Klara Saczuk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic caught universities along with their students off-guard, enforcing online education. Fear of the unknown, disinformation, and isolation resulted in an increased stress level in the entire population. Medical university students are particularly endangered with high stress levels and developing TMD. Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are of multifactorial etiology, and manifest with jaw dysfunction, masticatory muscle tension or pain, as well as headache. Though bruxism can act as an exacerbating factor for TMD, stress can also play crucial role in the onset. The study aimed to measure occurrence of TMD and bruxism symptoms in the medical student population, asses the stress level, and evaluate adopted stress-coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. A survey study was performed among 1018 students at Medical University of Lodz during April 2020. A self-designed questionnaire for screening TMD and bruxism symptoms, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and Brief-COPE questionnaires were applied. TMD and bruxism symptoms were observed in the majority of subjects during social isolation. The perceived stress levels were significantly higher in those experiencing TMD and bruxism symptoms. Mostly maladaptive, emotion-focused coping strategies were chosen by study subjects experiencing high levels of stress. Choosing Self-Blaming as a coping strategy is the strongest predictor of perceived stress. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:35:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-f1685d28bad643e6b41ec2099bd0e851 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9032 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T10:35:40Z |
| publishDate | 2022-04-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Healthcare |
| spelling | doaj.art-f1685d28bad643e6b41ec2099bd0e8512023-12-01T20:59:54ZengMDPI AGHealthcare2227-90322022-04-0110474010.3390/healthcare10040740Temporomandibular Disorders, Bruxism, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategies among Medical University Students in Times of Social Isolation during Outbreak of COVID-19 PandemicKlara Saczuk0Barbara Lapinska1Adam Wawrzynkiewicz2Alicja Witkowska3Heber Isac Arbildo-Vega4Monika Domarecka5Monika Lukomska-Szymanska6Department of General Dentistry, Medical University of Lodz, 92-213 Lodz, PolandDepartment of General Dentistry, Medical University of Lodz, 92-213 Lodz, PolandDepartment of Clinical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical University of Lodz, 90-419 Lodz, PolandPrivate Dental Practice “Ecodentica”, 80-126 Gdansk, PolandDepartment of General Dentistry, Dentistry School, Universidad San Martín de Porres, Chiclayo 14012, PeruDepartment of General Dentistry, Medical University of Lodz, 92-213 Lodz, PolandDepartment of General Dentistry, Medical University of Lodz, 92-213 Lodz, PolandThe COVID-19 pandemic caught universities along with their students off-guard, enforcing online education. Fear of the unknown, disinformation, and isolation resulted in an increased stress level in the entire population. Medical university students are particularly endangered with high stress levels and developing TMD. Temporomandibular disorders (TMD) are of multifactorial etiology, and manifest with jaw dysfunction, masticatory muscle tension or pain, as well as headache. Though bruxism can act as an exacerbating factor for TMD, stress can also play crucial role in the onset. The study aimed to measure occurrence of TMD and bruxism symptoms in the medical student population, asses the stress level, and evaluate adopted stress-coping strategies during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak. A survey study was performed among 1018 students at Medical University of Lodz during April 2020. A self-designed questionnaire for screening TMD and bruxism symptoms, Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and Brief-COPE questionnaires were applied. TMD and bruxism symptoms were observed in the majority of subjects during social isolation. The perceived stress levels were significantly higher in those experiencing TMD and bruxism symptoms. Mostly maladaptive, emotion-focused coping strategies were chosen by study subjects experiencing high levels of stress. Choosing Self-Blaming as a coping strategy is the strongest predictor of perceived stress.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/4/740temporomandibular disordersbruxismstressCOVID-19perceived stresscoping strategies |
| spellingShingle | Klara Saczuk Barbara Lapinska Adam Wawrzynkiewicz Alicja Witkowska Heber Isac Arbildo-Vega Monika Domarecka Monika Lukomska-Szymanska Temporomandibular Disorders, Bruxism, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategies among Medical University Students in Times of Social Isolation during Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic Healthcare temporomandibular disorders bruxism stress COVID-19 perceived stress coping strategies |
| title | Temporomandibular Disorders, Bruxism, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategies among Medical University Students in Times of Social Isolation during Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full | Temporomandibular Disorders, Bruxism, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategies among Medical University Students in Times of Social Isolation during Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_fullStr | Temporomandibular Disorders, Bruxism, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategies among Medical University Students in Times of Social Isolation during Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_full_unstemmed | Temporomandibular Disorders, Bruxism, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategies among Medical University Students in Times of Social Isolation during Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_short | Temporomandibular Disorders, Bruxism, Perceived Stress, and Coping Strategies among Medical University Students in Times of Social Isolation during Outbreak of COVID-19 Pandemic |
| title_sort | temporomandibular disorders bruxism perceived stress and coping strategies among medical university students in times of social isolation during outbreak of covid 19 pandemic |
| topic | temporomandibular disorders bruxism stress COVID-19 perceived stress coping strategies |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9032/10/4/740 |
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