Prevalence of bruxism and stress in dental students of the Autonomous Regional University of the Andes

Abstract

Introduction: bruxism, known as a disorder of multifactorial etiology, is a parafunctional activity that consists of clenching and grinding of the teeth, it can be of known or unknown cause, whatever it may be, it can be done during the day or at night. Objective: to determine the magnitude and presence of bruxism related to the level of stress and anxiety, in the students of the dental career of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the Autonomous Regional University of the Andes of Ecuador. Method: a descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out in students of the Dentistry career of the Regional Autonomous University of Los Andes in the year 2022. The universe consisted of the total number of Dentistry students of the Regional Autonomous University Of the Andes. The sample was selected by simple random sampling, obtaining 354 students. Results: it was determined that 45% of students did not present bruxism and 55% of students presented bruxism, with a predominance of women. All the students who showed bruxism presented high levels of depression, stress and anxiety. Conclusions: there is clearly a relationship between stress, anxiety and bruxism. The results show the prevalence of stress and bruxism in dentistry students, because there is a large amount of the relationship between the depression factor, the anxiety factor and the stress factor with the moderate level of bruxism.