Correlation between Surgeon's Experience, Surgery Complexity and the Alteration of Stress Related Physiological Parameters

INTRODUCTION: In the present work we analyzed the hormonal (salivary Cortisol; sC), immune (salivary Immunoglobulin A; sIgA) and cardiovascular (Heart rate, HR, and systolic blood pressure, SBP) responses induced by stress conditions in oral surgeons, randomly recruited according to their expertise level. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Each surgeon performed three different surgical procedures with increasing degrees of technical difficulty and under time-limited conditions, to assess whether these variants may influence the risks of stress-induced secondary hypertension among the involved health professionals. sC and sIgA samples and cardiovascular function measurements were taken up before, during, and two hours after every surgery. Salivary samples and cardiovascular measurements were taken also during non-surgical days, as baseline controls. RESULTS: We observed that more experienced surgeons showed a higher stress management ability compared to those with less experience or, generally, younger, which are more exposed to the risks of developing secondary hypertension. Nevertheless, indipendently of sex and experience, oral surgeons are constantly exposed to high risks of developing stress-related diseases. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the issues addressed and the results obtained, we have highlighted the importance of the investigated stress biomarkers to monitor and to prevent stress-related pathologies among oral surgeons. This approach is aimed to emphasize the significance of these specific stress-biomarkers, which represent a powerful instrument to evaluate stress levels in oral surgeons, and that may help to reduce the most severe life-threatening risks to which they are daily exposed. In conclusion, final goal of this study is to suggest an useful guideline to monitor the stress levels of oral and maxillofacial surgeons in order to improve their quality of life, which is inevitably reflected on the quality of the performances provided and, finally, to prevent possible mistakes in their daily activities.