Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: Musculoskeletal disorders in dentists due to abnormal postures may result in economic and health problems. To prevent these problems, the working posture of dental students should be assessed and corrected in dental procedures. This study determine these problems and the effect of training courses on them by Rapid Entire Body Assessment method (REBA).

Materials and Methods: The posture of 69 students were assessed by REBA before and after of the “Ergonomic principles in dentistry” course. The subjects which were used in the training course were based on the previous studies on this issue. The REBA scores were assessed by SPSS software using Paired T-test.

Results: The results showed that the students’ posture should be corrected. Postures of 94.2% of students were in moderate and high risk level which needed to be corrected. The worst working positions were during surgery, endodontic and pediatric dentistry procedures. Although the REBA scores before and after training course were statistically different (P<0.05), the training did not improve the posture of students remarkably.

Conclusion: The students’ working postures should be improved. One-day ergonomic principles course improved the working posture of students but it was not sufficient. More training and instructions are needed to have a good working position in dental procedures.

  Background and Aims : Free gingival graft is one of the most predictable procedures for gingival augmentation, but patient’s discomfort and pain during healing period of palatal donor site is a significant concern. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 660nm low power laser on pain and healing in palatal donor sites.

  Materials and Methods: The present split mouth randomized controlled clinical trial was performed in 12 patients at the department of periodontics of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Patients’ allocation was done by balanced block randomization (laser group and placebo group). In laser test group (wave length: 660 nm, power: 200mW, time of irradiation: 32s) was applied immediately post-surgery and in day 1, 2, 4 and 7 after that. In the control group, laser application was done with off power mode. Evaluation of epithelialization and healing was done with H₂O₂ and photograph. The number of palliative pills and bleeding was recorded. Wilcoxon test was used to analyze healing during the study. Patient’s pain during study was analyzed using repeated measure ANOVA. Mc Nemar test was used to analyze bleeding. Level of statistical significance was set at 0.05.

  Results: Laser group showed better epithelialization (P=0.02) and healing (P=0.01) in day 14 after surgery and showed better epithelialization in day 21(P=0.05). No statistically differences were observed between laser group and control group in terms of bleeding and medication (P=0.51), (P=1).

  Conclusion: According to the results of this study, the low power laser can promote palatal wound healing during the second and third week after free gingival graft procedures.