Knowledge, attitude, and practice towards ergonomics among undergraduates of Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, Egypt

Abstract

Ergonomics is the scientific study of people and their working environment. Dentistry is a profession that generally produces various musculoskeletal disorders. If ergonomic principles are applied in the field of dentistry, it helps to prevent occupational ergonomic health hazards and provides more comfort to the dentist and patient. To assess knowledge, attitudes, and practice of ergonomics during routine dental procedures among undergraduates of Faculty of Dentistry, Tanta University, cross-sectional study was conducted among dental students of Tanta University during the year 2015-2016 using a predesigned selfadministered questionnaire. Knowledge, attitude, and practice were assessed by 16, 5, and 6 questions, respectively. The study included 479 dental students, of them, 291 (60.8%) were females, 359 (74.9%) were from urban areas, and 359 students (74.9%) were 22 years old and below. Only one quarter of the students had good knowledge whereas nearly half of the students (48.9%) had fair knowledge concerning ergonomics. Out of the participants, 84.8% had positive attitudes and 95.4% had poor practice of ergonomics. Only 48.9% of the studied students had fair knowledge regarding ergonomics; also 5% only of students practice it. But about 84.8% of students have a positive attitude towards studying ergonomics. Dental students need to ensure involving ergonomics in the routine dental practice. This may be achieved via addition of ergonomics in their curriculum.

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

“…According to the results of the present study all the dentists approved that dental chair and instruments play major role in adopting ergonomics' principles, this disagrees with El-Sallamy et al; 2017 who revealed that only 56.4% thought that dental chair and instruments play a role in adopting ergonomics during dental work (17) . More than half of the studied sample (67.5%) knew the ideal sitting angle, while 72.5% didn't know the depth of chair, 65% didn't know the ideal sitting posture, more than half (60%) of the interns didn't know the ideal position of the patient, and 82.5% didn't know the ideal distance between the dentist and the instruments, these results disagree with Barlean et al; 2012 and Madaan and Chaudhari; 2012, who revealed that half of the dentists had fair knowledge (20,21) , this could be attributed to lack of ergonomics principles in our curricula.…”

“…According to the results of the current study it was found that high percentage of interns (95%) believed in the importance of the concepts of ergonomics, this goes in agreement with Mailoa & Rovani 2011 (19) and El-Sallamy et al; 2017 (17) , this may be due to receiving information about ergonomics from internet and supervisors during clinical work, on the contrary these results disagree with results of study conducted by Madaan and Chaudhari 2012, which showed lower scores of awareness (19%) (20) . In addition, 87.5% accepted to follow ergonomics during routine dental work, referring to its importance in reducing pain and fatigue.…”

“…As regards the average working hours per day the results of the present study (which is 6-8 hours) were close to that of Barlean et al; 2012 who revealed that the dentists in his study declared that they work from 4-7 hours and part of them work 7 hours/day (21) and in agreement with El-Sallamy et al; 2017 where 60% of the dentists worked for 6 hours/day (17) .…”

“…In the present study 95% of the participating dental interns agreed about integrating ergonomics in dental curricula this goes in agreement with Vyas et al; 2014 to avoid major occupational hazards problems (24) , and El-Sallamy et al; 2017 who stated that 69.1% thought that ergonomics should be integrated in dental curricula (17) .…”

“…Several studies revealed contradicting results regarding knowledge and awareness of dental professionals about ergonomics worldwide (16) . The need increases to include ergonomics' principles in the curricula of all dental schools (17) .…”