Here you will find the results of a rapid evidence assessment, of work published since 2006, to better understand the extent to which dental professionals experience mental health problems and the conditions that contribute to mental and emotional distress.

The work provides a comprehensive review of evidence on the mental health and wellbeing of dental professionals in the UK and has benefited from the input of an Expert Reference Group. We would like to encourage all those with an interest in promoting mental health wellness in dentistry to review and, where appropriate, to act on the findings.

Key findings

• The review found evidence that dentists face mental health problems, such as anxiety, stress and burnout, during their training and professional lives, but found little about the experiences of dental care professionals.
• Some studies suggested that poor mental health may lead to practitioners being less clinically confident and potentially impact treatment decisions. However, the reviewers conclude that further empirical studies are needed before the impact of poor mental health and wellbeing on the dental teams’ performance and patient safety can be known.
• There was a dearth of research or evaluation on mental health support interventions with dental professionals in mind. Researchers noted the need to test bespoke interventions that recognised the range of settings and system-related issues in dentistry.