From stress to resilience: A systematic literature review of mental health challenges and interventions in dental education

The stress, anxiety, depression, and burnout associated with dental training seem to cause high levels of mental distress in dental trainees. It is important to learn its prevalence, risk factors, and the coping strategies to maintain student well-being, as well as professional competence. The systematic review was done according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines and registered in the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews for transparency and included databases, such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, BMC Psychology, BMC Medical Education, MDPI, and Springer Open. The screening process was conducted between 1989 and 2026 using a combination of MeSH terms and keywords. to extract all relevant data along with validated instruments used to measure mental distress in dental students. Studies were included based on Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome Study Design criteria, along with the A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews 2 checklist, while evidence certainty was evaluated via the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation approach to ensure high methodological rigor. Publication bias was evaluated using funnel plots, substantiated by the Linear Regression Test by Egger. Thirty-seven articles were included. The proportion of prevalence of depression, anxiety, stress, and burnout was 30%–55%, 40%–60%, 50%–88%, and 25%–50%, respectively, with an increased risk among female and clinical-year students. Some of the contributing factors were heavy workload, clinical responsibilities, inadequate faculty support, and low social support. Mindfulness, cognitive-behavioral interventions, peer mentoring, resilience interventions, and curriculum modification interventions were found to be effective, especially at multiple levels. The dental students are generally experiencing mental distress. The multilevel interventions based on individual, peer, and institutional elements may help to improve the well-being and professional readiness.