Background: One of the groups most exposed to potentially harmful effects of the current pandemic on physical and mental health is medical personnel, in particular those working directly with patients infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or suffering from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Objectives: The response of the body to a persisting threat, constant contact with dying people and frequent deaths of patients is chronic stress syndrome. Its symptoms may take the form of psychosomatic or somatic reactions. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of stress on the severity of temporomandibular syndrome (TMD) in medical personnel.
Material and methods: The study included a group of 160 people - 120 women and 40 men aged 35-60 years, working at the hospital wards as doctors, nurses and support staff, directly with patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 and suffering from COVID-19. The research was conducted in the form of a cross-sectional survey with the use of anonymous questionnaire. The final questionnaire was developed based on the tools commonly used for TMD, bruxism, anxiety, and depression assessment - 8Q/TMD and the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 (PHQ-8).
Results: After checking the significance of differences in responses to individual questions among men and women and applying the Bonferroni correction for multiple comparisons, Fisher's test and p-values for individual responses, an increase in pathological reactions was shown. The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant adverse effects on the psychoemotional status and causes or aggravates TMD symptoms.
Conclusion: The aggravation of the psychoemotional status caused by the COVID-19 pandemic can result in intensification of TMD symptoms and other symptoms in the stomatognathic system in medical staff working with patients infected with COVID-19.
Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; orofacial pain; psychosomatic disorders; temporomandibular disorders.