Methods: The research was done as historical cohort. Initially by using the list of artist physicians association and artistic societies, the names of dentists engaged in an artistic field (painting) were received. In this research, 80 samples were examined from the viewpoints of stress, depression, and anxiety. After visiting these dentists, their artistic activity and some specifications including age, gender, marital status, engagement in a field of specialty, existence of a stressed and depressed person in the family, and existence of specific events (divorce, death of a family member etc) in life were examined and registered in the information form. Then a sample was then taken from the non-artist group. These two groups were examined using a DASS-42 questionnaire and were statistically assessed by profiting from Mann-U-Whitney and Chi-Square tests.
Results: There was a meaningful difference between the two groups of dentists (two 40-persons groups; 40 dentists who had artistic activity (painting) and 40 dentists who did not). Among dentists who had artistic activity (painting), 32 persons (80%) had normal stress, 40 persons (100%) had normal depression, and 40 persons (100%) had normal anxiety. However, among dentists who did not have artistic activity, 7 persons (17.5%) had normal stress, 10 persons (25%) had normal depression, and 17 persons (42.5%) had normal anxiety.
Conclusions: The findings showed that dentists who did not have artistic activity (painting), had more stress, anxiety, and depression than those who had artistic activity. Some examinations of stress, depression, and anxiety in other artistic fields is recommended.