Journal of Dental Medicine

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Background and Aims: Regarding the diversity of reported low- back pain among dentists in different countries and lack of control group in most of the previous studies, the purpose of this study was to compare low- back pain and related risk factors between male general dentists and pharmacists to determine the relation between dentistry and development of low back pain.

Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 261 male dentists were compared with 193 male pharmacists as a control group with Standardized Nordic Questionnaire (low back section). Subjects were at least one year in clinical practice after becoming qualified and did not suffer from connective tissue diseases and history of a traumatic event causing fracture in spinal column. The data were analyzed by Chi- square, T-test and logistic regression analyses.

Results: The prevalence of low back pain in the past 12 months was 54.8% in male dentists and 36.3% in male pharmacists (P=.001). Logistic regression analyses, adjustmenting for occupation, age, body mass index (BMI), smoking, working years and working hours per week, revealed that there was a significant association between being a dentist and having low- back pain (OR=2.54, P=0.001).

 Conclusion: Dentistry as a profession in male gender is associated with low back pain, independent of age, body mass index (BMI), smoking, working years and working hours per week.

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Background and Aims: A large number of dentists are exposed to all kinds of musculoskeletal disorders caused by this profession. This study was conducted with the aim of measuring the prevalence of musculoskeletal problems and its effect on the quality of life of faculty members.
Materials and Methods: The present study was a descriptive analytical study that was conducted by surveying faculty members of the Faculty of Dentistry, Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences in the form of a census. Standard Nordic questionnaires were completed to investigate musculoskeletal problems and quality of life questionnaire. Also, the dentists were asked to determine and mark the level of pain experienced based on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). Data was analyzed using t test and chi square test.
Results: In this study, 73 academic staff members were examined, 46 (63%) were women and 27 (37%) were men. The most pain and disorder in the past year was related to the neck (64.4%) and shoulder (56.2%) of participates. The participates that prevented from working because of back pain and of neck pain during the last 12 months were 32(43.8% ) and 31(42.5%), respectively.  Most of them (63%) were under 40 years old and the majority have graduated from general and specialized courses, 57.5 % and 37%, respectively, for more than 10 years. In examining the quality of life, the highest score related to the physical function which was 76.98±25.38.
Conclusion: There was a significant statistical relationship between the gender, age and duration of graduation from general and specialized courses with the skeletal and muscular disorders. However, there was no significant statistical relationship between the different aspects of life  quality and skeletal and muscular disorders.