BDA study indicates high stress levels for primary salaried care dentists

Compared with other UK workers, dentists working in primary salaried care are more than twice as likely to experience high levels of job-related stress.

This is according to new research from the British Dental Association (BDA), which polled almost 500 of its members and found 37 per cent of respondents in England reported stress caused by workplace factors.

The figure fell to 27 per cent for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland combined, but was still significantly higher than the 15 per cent of the British population as a whole who suffer job-related stress.

Peter Bateman, chair of the BDA Salaried Dentists Committee, condemned the figures as "unacceptably high".

He identified a "combination of staff cuts, ever-increasing workloads and … unrealistic targets" as the factors responsible for job-related stress in the dental profession.

Dr Bateman argued that salaried primary care dentists should be able to "call on effective and supportive management" to overcome these issues.