COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE PREVALENCE OF MUSCULOSKELETAL DISORDERS IN DENTAL UNDERGRADUATE AND POSTGRADUATE STUDENTS.

Objective: To compare the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorder in the dental undergraduate, postgraduate students and non-dental students as well as to evaluate the correlation between different risk factors and prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Material and methods: Total 480 questionnaires were answered; 320 questionnaires were answered by 160 postgraduates and 160 undergraduates from 6 different departments; orthodontics, prosthodontics, periodontics, pedodontics, oral surgery, and endodontics in two dental colleges in Pune, India. The control group consisted of 160 non-dental students from the similar age groups from the same Universities. The answers were statistically analyzed using SPSS through Chi-square test, Kruskal Wallis test and post hoc test. Logistic regression was analyzed to prove the correlation between the risk factors such as age, gender, departments, total years of dental practice, number of patient treated per working day, etc. Results: Amongst the dental postgraduate groups, neck (52.5%) was found to be most common musculoskeletal disorder followed by lower back (43.33%), shoulder (35.83%) and upper back (32.29%). However, undergraduate students had more of back pain followed by neck and shoulder pain. Treatment resorted for the musculoskeletal pain was proportional to the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in each groups. Logistic regression analysis has shown that neck pain was associated with no break in between each patient session. Time spent in each patient appointments were strongly associated with upper and lower back pains. Conclusion: There is high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders associated with dental students even in their early dental college training years. Higher prevalence in undergraduates in most of musculoskeletal disorders except for neck concludes that young dentists in their college years resort to bending of their upper and lower back more and they have improper posture of their upper extremities during the procedure. Since the musculoskeletal disorders are the most prevalent occupational hazards of dental professionals, appropriate postures from early training years are essential for the long career.