Journal of Dental Medicine

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Statement of Problem: According to many researches done in the field of occupational disorders dentists are considered at the risk of musculoskeletal problems. These problems may cause reduction of job length of dentists.
Purpose: This study was done for evaluating the musculoskeletal disorders of dentists, practicing in Yazd.
Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study, conveyed in Yazd city in 1999 by survey among all of working dentists with eye-to-eye contact questionnaire reply.
Results: Among dentists were interviewed 81.6% of respondents mentioned at least one of musculoskeletal problems. The mentioned disorders were respectively Neck (47.1%) hand (36.2%), wrist (34.8%), upper and lower parts of back (33.3%), shoulder (11.59%), knee (2.8%). About 72.5% of the individuals had no familial history and just 4.5% had these disorders before working as a dentist.
Conclusion: Results of this study revealed that majority of musculoskeletal disorders had significant relationship with age, gender, work place, working hours, level of exercise, direct vision and duration of the job of dental occupation.

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Statement of Problem: Hyperlipidemia is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. In recent years some evidence has been presented regarding the association between periodontal and cardiovascular diseases.

Purpose: The aim of this study was the evaluation of association between hyperlipidemia and periodontitis.

Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, levels of plasma lipids in 40 subjects with periodontitis (CPITN score III or IV) were measured and compared with 40 age and sex matched controls. Data were analyzed using t-student test with P<0.05 as the limit of significance.

Results: Total cholesterol (CHL) and triglyceride (TG) were significantly higher in case group compared with control group. (P=0.045 and P=0.016 respectively). HDL and LDL cholesterols were higher in cases but showed no significant differences with controls. The relative frequency of pathologic values of CHL and TG were significantly greater in cases compared with control group (P=0.005 and P=0.001 respectively).

Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, hyperlipidemia may be associated with periodontitis in medically healthy peoples but whether periodontitis causes an increase in levels of serum lipids or whether hyperlipidemia is a risk factor for both periodontitis and cardiovascular disease need to be further investigated.