ADA Wellness Survey reveals dentists’ ergonomic issues

The ADA Council on Dental Practice’s Dental Wellness Advisory Committee conducted a 2015 survey to study the well-being of dentists.Get more news about Ergonomic Dental,you can vist our website!

Two-thirds of the respondents reported that they suffered from neck pain and nearly half of them said that it was either moderate or severe in its intensity. A similar percentage reported low back pain and again, half of those surveyed said that it ranged from moderate to severe.

Three members of the committee who were selected for their ergonomics expertise — Timothy J. Caruso, Tamara James and Robert Werner, M.D. — prepared a report in late 2017 that addressed musculoskeletal problems and their causes based on the survey’s findings.

Mr. Caruso is a physical therapist who has served on the committee for over a decade; Ms. James is director of ergonomics at Duke University’s Occupational and Environmental Safety Office; and Dr. Werner is former Chief of the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation at the Ann Arbor VA Medical Center.

“The practice of dentistry involves risk factors such as strained postures, repetitive motion and sustained muscular contractions, not to mention confined spaces,” said Dr. Douglas Wolff, chair of the committee. "When dentists went from standing up to sitting down, many of these problems were thought to be eliminated, but there continues to be a significant number of physical complaints associated with practicing dentistry. Good ergonomics should be a cornerstone of today’s modern dental practice in order to keep the clinician comfortable, efficient, effective and healthy.”
The authors also stress research when purchasing loupes. The magnification level, working length, field of view and the angle of declination must all be determined in order to maintain good head and neck posture, they said. Ideally, the authors maintain, dentists should have their loupes properly fitted by a trained optical specialist, with the fitting done in their own dental operatory with a volunteer in the chair. Poor-fitting loupes can cause the practitioners to drop their head in order to achieve proper focus and declination angle to see the oral cavity, leading to poor posture along with neck, shoulder and neck pain.

Stopping pain before it starts is always best, the authors said. Dentists should focus on how they work, how they hold instruments and how neck and back posture could be contributing to their aches. One way to do this is to have a staff member photograph or video a dentist’s procedures to get a better understanding of what may be contributing to the pain.

The authors also recommend looking at the layout and design of the operatory. In the case of the patient chair, having a chair that is too thick or too wide can impede a practitioner’s access to the oral cavity.