Are we well? A post-pandemic snapshot of dental educator wellness, well-being, and fulfillment.

INTRODUCTION: The COVID-19 pandemic brought unprecedented changes to oral care and dental education delivery. To date, the vast majority of studies focus on the impact COVID-19 had on the well-being and wellness of patients, practitioners, and students; however, limited literature addresses the pandemic's impact on dental educators. PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the wellness, well-being, and fulfillment of dental educators in the years following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Following Institutional Review Board approval, an anonymous electronic Qualtrics survey was emailed to full-time and adjunct faculty across five (5) dental education institutions in the US. Faculty self-reported on their wellness, general well-being, physical well-being, mental well-being, fulfillment, and work-life balance. Group differences were examined using analysis of variance and the Tukey-Kramer test for multiple comparisons at the p < 0.05 level. RESULTS: The results revealed females and younger dental faculty members reported statistically significantly lower levels of wellness (F2, 123  = 11.16, p < 0.001, F3, 121  = 8.53, p < 0.001), physical (F2, 123  = 11.53, p < 0.001, F3, 121  = 5.54, p = 0.001) and mental well-being (F2, 123  = 12.49, p < 0.001, F3, 121  = 8.63, p < 0.001), fulfillment (F3, 121  = 5.01, p < 0.003), and higher levels of burnout (F2, 123  = 5.53, p = 0.005, F3, 121  = 4.85, p < 0.003). Those who expressed higher levels of burnout also had statistically lower mean well-being scores (F4, 119  = 10.54, p < 0.001). Females also reported a significantly lower work-life balance score compared to male respondents (F2, 121  = 10.37, p < 0.002). CONCLUSION: Despite the social and environmental challenges faced over the last couple of years post-pandemic, dental educators demonstrate a quick ability to adapt, however, disproportional differences in gender and age groups were identified as being significantly correlated to dental educators' self-reports on wellness, well-being, and fulfillment. Insight into these variables can help inform strategies in the academic setting to help support and strengthen the academic workforce.

Impact strength of 3D printed and conventional heat-cured and cold-cured denture base acrylics.

PURPOSE: To evaluate and compare the impact strength of 3D-printed resin to conventionally fabricated denture bases of heat-cured and cold-cured acrylic resin. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Denture base materials were evenly divided into three groups (n = 25 each; N = 75): (1) 3Dprinted material (Denture Base LP, Formlabs); (2) Heat-cured acrylic resin (Lucitone 199, Dentsply Sirona); and (3) cold-cured acrylic resin (Lucitone HIPA, Dentsply Sirona). The 3Dprinted specimens were designed through computer-aided design (CAD) software (Autodesk Meshmixer) with the dimensions 64 mm long, 12.7 mm wide, and 3.2 mm thick, then printed with a desktop stereolithography printer (Form 2, Formlabs). Heat-cured and cold-cured acrylic resin specimens were fabricated through conventional (compression and pouring) methods. The impact energy was read directly from the impact tester in joules, and the cross-sectional area of each specimen was used to calculate the impact strength in kJ/m2. Analysis of variance, Tukey multiple comparisons test, and a likelihood ratio α = .05 were conducted. RESULTS: The average mean impact strength was 8.9 kJ/m2 for heat-cured acrylic resin, 11.2 kJ/m2 for 3D-printed resin, and 14.9 kJ/m2 for cold-cured acrylic resin. Tukey multiple comparisons test showed that the impact strength for the cold-cured group was significantly greater than the 3D-printed resin and heat-cured acrylic resin groups. CONCLUSION: Within the limitations of this study, the cold-cured acrylic (Lucitone HIPA) showed the greatest impact strength, followed by 3D-printed resin (Denture Base LP) and conventional heat-cured denture base materials (Lucitone 199), respectively.