PREVALENCE OF MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS AMONG DENTAL PRACTITIONERS WORKING IN PRIVATE DENTAL CLINICS IN KARACHI.

摘要

Introduction: Dental surgeon are most susceptible to develop themusculoskeletal disorders due to different working habits, repetitive tasks and uncomfortablephysiological posture and mental stresses. Dentist and other health professionals often cannotavoid prolonged static postures. In optimal seated postures, major part of human body andmuscles are contracted statically and there is little movement of the vertebral joints this mayresult in physiological changes that can lead to neck, shoulder and back pain or musculoskeletaldisorders. The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of musculoskeletal disordersamong dental surgeons practicing in different areas of Karachi city. Study Design: Crosssectional study. Setting: Private Dental Clinics in the city of Karachi. Period: March 2017 toMay 2017. Material & Methods: The survey was conducted among 242 Dental Surgeonspracticing in different districts of Karachi. The questionnaire was concerned with demographicdetails, work duration and acquired specialization, organization and methods of work in thesurgery. Results: Out of 242 questionnaire 107 were male and 135 female and 70% of theresponders were from age group 25-35 years. Around 38.60% were serving the profession fromless than 5 years and 28.83% had an experience of 5 to 10 years. Most of the dentist work 6days a week and 5 to 8 hours a day. 42% dentist preferred both standing and sitting position.About 55.81% have acquired their preferred mode of vision according to position. Shoulder hadmore incidence of involvement (36.27%), followed by lower back (34.41%) and Neck (22.32%).Majority of them (40.1%) marked intensity of pain as moderate and described it as discomfort(42.4%) and aching (39.2%). Majority were taking paracetamol as pain killer and 53.6% agreedto the fact that their pain aggravates upon repetitive movements. Conclusions: The presentstudy showed high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among dentist, so there shouldbe preventing aims delivered during undergraduate curriculum and structure base workshopshould be programmed to explain the consequences of prolonged and bed posture dentistry.