Work related muskuloskeletal disorders among dentists at the university dental clinic in Skopje

Abstract

Introduction Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are one of the most common types of work-related diseases that affect health workers, especially dentists. The aim of our study was to examine the presence of musculoskeletal disorders among dentists at the university dental clinic in correlation with risk factors. Materials and methods A questionnaire survey was carried out among 78 dental practitioners aged between 20 to 60 years old, employed at the university dental clinic. Questions included data on physical and psychosocial workload, perceived general health and occurrence of musculoskeletal complaints in the past 12 months, chronic complaints, frequency and length of breaks, exercising habits as well as medical care seeking. Results Pain in the back, neck and shoulders (84.6% / 85.9%) was the most common complaint among the majority of respondents, while reduced range of movement was noticed among significantly fewer subjects, mostly between 40-60 years of age. Prolonged statistic position was considered to be one of the main causes of MSDs (82.05%) while 73.08% of respondents stated at least two more reasons beside this one. Conclusion The percentage of MSDs prevalence among dentists in public health sector is high. More extensive surveys should be undertaken to cover larger group of dentists from both private and public sector, in order to obtain complete analysis of the prevalence of occupational disorders in our country.

Keywords

• dentists
• ergonomics
• musculoskeletal disorders