The last article of the series Ergonomics in the dental office is directed at cognitive and organizational ergonomics. The work of the dentist is considered psychologically demanding and stressful.
Chronic stress leads to long-term psychological, physical and social problems. The main stressors regarding dentists are the time pressure, compromises, a negative patients' feedback, the communication with problem patients and the responsibility for the management and the economy of the dental practice.
Unsuitable work environment creates the physical stressors. Stress cannot be completely eliminated from the dental offices, however, it is important to minimize it, to find and eliminate its causes, not to underestimate warning signs and not to sty alone with one's problems.
During the practice running it is good to schedule the patients according to the difficulty of the treatment, to resist the pressure from the patients, to transfer a part of the management on the employees, to keep the relaxation brakes and to carry out suitable off-the-job activities and a healthy lifestyle.