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Life satisfaction and peace of mind among dentists: a cross-sectional study

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Abstract

Objectives

This study sought to identify the factors associated with the life satisfaction and peace of mind (PoM) of dentists not in full-time clinical training.

Materials and methods

Cross-sectional questionnaires were distributed to dentists in Taiwan to collect their life satisfaction, PoM, sociodemographic data, and dental career-related characteristics. Life satisfaction was measured using a 5-item Satisfaction with Life Scale. PoM was measured using a 7-item Peace of Mind Scale. Descriptive statistics and multiple linear regression models were estimated to explore potential associations between the two scales and the examined factors.

Results

A total of 1196 dentists (45.6% female; mean age = 44.12) completed the questionnaires. The response rate of completed questionnaires from email invitations was 32.9%. On multivariable analysis, life satisfaction and PoM were associated with age (b = 0.008 in both), better perceived health (b = 0.262 and 0.308, respectively), family interaction (b = 0.264 and 0.207, respectively), and friend relationships (b = 0.076 and 0.091, respectively). Being married (b = 0.191), being specialized (b = 0.127), working in private practice, and spending 10 to 39 h per week with patients (b = 0.101 to 0.162) were associated with a higher level of life satisfaction but not PoM.

Conclusions

Specialists working in private practice without working overtime were associated with better life satisfaction. However, the dentists’ health and relationships with family were more related to their subjective well-being than their professional achievements.

Clinical relevance

Our findings can help policymakers increase awareness of the well-being of general dentists and those in academia or hospitals to promote their mental health.

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Data availability

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the dentists who conscientiously responded to the questionnaires to make this project possible.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dentistry, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan

    Martin M. Fu & Rebecca Y. Chen

  2. Department of Endodontics, New York University College of Dentistry, New York, NY, USA

    Min-Wen Fu

  3. Department of Dentistry, Taipei Tzu Chi Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan

    Rebecca Y. Chen & Earl Fu

  4. Department of Periodontics and Oral Medicine, School of Dentistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Hsun-Liang Chan

  5. Department of Health Promotion and Health Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Tony Szu-Hsien Lee

  6. Division of Periodontology, The Ohio State University College of Dentistry, Columbus, OH, USA

    Hsun-Liang Chan

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  1. Martin M. Fu
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  6. Earl Fu
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Contributions

MMF: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, and visualization. MWF: conceptualization, methodology, and writing—original draft. RYC: validation, investigation, data curation, visualization, and project administration. HLC: conceptualization and methodology. EF: conceptualization, methodology, visualization, and supervision. TSHL: conceptualization, methodology, visualization, and supervision

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Earl Fu.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Fu, M.M., Fu, MW., Chen, R.Y. et al. Life satisfaction and peace of mind among dentists: a cross-sectional study. Clin Oral Invest 27, 6421–6428 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-023-05245-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00784-023-05245-2

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