Table 2 Characteristics of the included studies focusing on violence among oral healthcare workers

Garvin and Sledge, USA, 1992 [6]

2

Dental hygienists

650

72.6

26.3

Age mean = 28.9, 100% females

Sexual harassment

Action: terminated employment, legal action, no action, reported incident. No policy

Pennington et al., USA, 2000 [7]

NA

Dental hygienists

540

53

54

Mean of age 40, 99% females

Sexual harassment

Action: File formal complaints. No policy

Garbin et al., Brazil, 2009 [5]

NA

Dental students

254

82

15

Age range:19–32 years (mean = 22), 65.9% females and 34.1% males

Sexual harassment (15%)

Action: Inform the mentor or do nothing. No policy

Steadman et al., United Kingdom, 2009 [13]

12

Postgraduate hospital dentists

227

60

25

NA

Bullying (25%), threat (8.2%), verbal abuse (8.2%), sexual harassment (7.5%), property damage (1.5%)

Action: Inform the mentor. No policy

Azodo et al., Nigeria, 2011 [1]

12

Dental

professionals

175

78.9

31.9

NA

Bullying and physical abuse (22%), loud shouting (50%), sexual harassment (6.8%), threat (22.7%)

Action: NA. No policy

Premadasa et al., Sri Lanka, 2011 [14]

9

Junior dental

students

72

91

50

Age range: 20–23, 67.7% females and 32.3% males

Loud shouting (50%), physical abuse (4.6%), sexual harassment (11.5%), threat, verbal abuse (58.7%)

Action: Do nothing, inform friend or family, inform the mentor.

No policy

McCombs et al., USA, 2018 [15]

6

Dental hygienists

240

64

24

Age range: 20 – > 60, 97% females and 3% males

Workplace bullying, opinions and views ignoring, and unmanageable workloads

Action: NA. No policy

Ullah et al., Pakistan, 2018 [16]

6

Dental interns

135

92.59

36.8%

Mean age 24.0 ± 1.3, 69.6% females and 30.4% males

Workplace bullying, unmanageable workload, and being ignored or excluded

Action: Only 14.5% reported a complaint. No policy