Musculoskeletal pain and ergonomic aspects of dentistry

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Dentists are considered professionals highly vulnerable to occupational problems and such injuries are sometimes caused by adopted postures and repetitive efforts during their work. This study aimed at checking the prevalence of musculoskeletal pain and to observe whether the work of dentists acting in both public and private sectors was carried out ergonomically. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, descriptive and observational study with dentists (n=80). A self-applicable questionnaire was used to check the frequency of musculoskeletal pain and occupational injuries, as well as to record labor activities, practice of physical activity and their frequencies. Professionals were observed while carrying out dental assistance based on recommendations of the document "Adopting a healthy sitting working posture during patient treatment", which is part of the International Standards Organization standardization 106/SC 6 N 411 from 2006. RESULTS:There has been job-related pain in at least 65.67% of dentists. The number of individuals adopting incorrect and inadequate positions during assistance was high, such as: head rotation (73.13%); spine rotation (47.76%) and legs angle less than 90 o (91.04%). Medical leaves related to occupational injuries were found in a greater proportion among public service professionals (64%). CONCLUSION:There has been high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain related to inadequate postures adopted during clinical assistance and to long working hours without pause. Keywords: Dentistry, Epidemiology, Human engineering, Musculoskeletal pain, Pain. Musculoskeletal pain and ergonomic aspects of dentistry* Dores osteomusculares e aspectos ergonômicos na prática odontológica RESUMO JUSTIFICATIVA E OBJETIVOS:O cirurgião-dentista é apontado como um profissional muito vulnerável a problemas ocupacionais e essas lesõesàs vezes ocorrem devido a posturas adotadas e esforços repetitivos durante seu trabalho. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar a prevalência de dores osteomusculares e observar se o trabalho dos cirurgiões-dentistas que atuam no setor público e privado foi realizado de forma ergonômica. MÉTODOS: Trata-se de um estudo com desenho transversal, descritivo e observacional, com cirurgiões-dentistas (n=80). Com um questionário autoaplicável verificou-se a frequência de dores musculoesqueléticas e lesões ocupacionais, bem como o registro das atividades laborais, prática de atividade física e suas frequências. Os profissionais foram observados enquanto realizavam o atendimento odontológico baseado nas recomendações contidas no documento "Adopting a healthy sitting working posture during patient treatment", que é parte da normatização da International Standards Organization, 106/SC 6 N 411 de 2006. RESULTADOS: Houve experiência de dor relacionada ao trabalho em pelo menos 65,67% dos cirurgiões-dentistas. O número de indivíduos que adotam posições incorretas e inadequadas durante os atendimentos foi elevado, tais como: rotação da cabeça (73,13%); rotação da colun...

EVALUATION OF ERGONOMICS’ Awareness AMONG A GROUP OF Egyptian DENTAL INTERNS

“…The results of the current study indicated that more than half (60%) knew that they should stand between the appointments, while the rest didn't know, this goes in accordance with Desai et al; 2012 (18) , however this disagrees with Garbin et al; 2015, who revealed that about 86% of the dentists stated that they don't rest between appointments (25) . Moreover, half of the interns performed stretching exercises and the other half didn't, this may provide dentists with break from excessive workload, and strengthen their bodies in addition to providing mental relaxation (26) .…”

“…Finally, 90% of the dental interns said they suffered from pain. Ranging from back pain, neck pain or both, this comes in accordance with Desai et al; 2012 who revealed that 85% of the dentists reported muscular pain (18) , Garbin et al; 2015, also concluded that 65.6% suffered from pain (25) , this was attributed to time spent sitting down for working, wrong posture during working and not exercising between patients (25) .…”

Interventions commonly used to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders among healthcare workers

“…A previous study [18] found that physicians were exposed to patients in the same working posture resulting in repetitive work, awkward positions and bending or twisting the back. Similarly, dentists, worked with repetitive head rotation, spine rotation and prolonged leg bending resulting in dentists complaining about WMSDs [26]. Furthermore, bad working habits and uncomfortable physical postures are the causes of MSDs, discomfort and fatigue among dentists [27].…”

Musculoskeletal Disorders in Dentists: A Systematic Review

“…One Bangladeshi study conducted by Jahan KMR et al2015 [11] showed that 90% surveyed dentists were suffering from musculoskeletal pain during work in last 3months. In Brazil a study conducted by Garbin AJI et al2015 [12] showed that 65.67% dentist had job related pain, where as in Saudi Arabia the prevalence of MSDs among respondents was 77.9% (n=53) with the most commonly affected areas the lower back (73.5%) (39/53) followed by the neck (66%) (35/53) and the shoulders (43.3%) (23/53). [13] According to these studies the most prevalent regions that dentists experienced musculoskeletal symptoms were back, neck and shoulder region, [7,8,9,10,13] however the reported prevalence for these regions varied to some extent between studies.…”

“…About identification of risk factors of MSDs the review result uncovered different risk factors according to different studies in different countries in which inadequate posture during dental work is an important risk factor. In the study Garbin AJI et al2015 [12] showed high prevalence of musculoskeletal pain related to inadequate postures adopted during clinical assistance and to long working hours without pause. With this, it was also observed that many professionals would rotate their heads during consultations (73.13%), their spine (47.76%) and that the position of their legs was less than 90º with regard to the floor during work (91.04%).…”