The Study of Muscular Pain among Dentists

• Main Authors: Kuo-Ming Ku, 辜國銘
• Other Authors: Tien-Yu Shieh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/32775925273214508477

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 口腔衛生科學研究所碩士班 === 92 === Muscular pain is a very common health problem among medical professionals, particularly dentists. Modern dentistry requires dentists to do sophisticated procedures which require certain postures that could tense certain muscles and lead to higher rate of muscular pain much higher than that of other health professionals. The main purpose of the study was to investigate the factors of the muscular pain and the condition of the muscular pain among the dentists. The study adopted (used) cross-sectional study with revised NMQ (Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire) based on the sample of 346 dentists in Kaohsiung,Taiwan.The content mainly includes four items: Basic (personal) information, the posture of the dental treatment, the condition of the muscular pain and the effect of the muscular pain. The result of the surveys (interviews/questionnaires) showed the ache proportion of the shoulder, neck and the back were 50.0 %, 46.9 %, 45 % respectively. The frequency of each portion of the body appeared mostly is ‘occasion’ (time/week); the degree of the ache mostly fall in between light to medium. Findings from the variables and the factors of the ache showed that the muscular pain of dentists were different according to the gender, age, working years, posture of the dental treatment and assistant numbers: (1)gender: the pain happened to female dentists more than male dentists. (2)age: the older the dentists, the less proportion of pain happened to them. (3)posture: the proportion of the pain was higher if their neck and back bend. (4)number of assistants:dental assistants could help dentists to alleviate the pain of left shoulder and the upper back. In order to alleviate the muscular pain occuring in the practice of dentistry,dentists are advised to use appropriate postures during treatment, have assistants, exercise regularly and have a healthy diet.