Prevalence and Associated Factors of Musculoskeletal Pain among the Dental Personnel in a Dental School
Piyapat Dajpratham MD*, Teerada Ploypetch MD*, Sirichai Kiattavorncharoen DDS**, Kiatanant Boonsiriseth DDS**
Affiliation : * Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand ** Department of Surgery, Faculty of Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective : To study the prevalence and associated factors of musculoskeletal (MS) pain among the dental personnel. In
addition, impacts and treatment of MS pain were reported.
Material and Method: Random sampling of 390 participants from the name lists of dental personnel working in each
department. Self-administered questionnaires were equally distributed to three groups of dental personnel namely clinical
instructors, postgraduate students, and dental assistants. The present study was conducted as a survey in the Faculty of
Dentistry, Mahidol University, Bangkok between December 2008 and January 2009.
Results : Three hundred and ninety questionnaires were delivered and 164 questionnaires were returned (response rate
42.5%). The participants with MS pain were 32 clinical instructors (20.3%), 52 postgraduate students (32.9%), and 74
dental assistants (46.8%). Their mean age was 33.0 + 9.1 years old. The MS pain found respectively was shoulder pain
72.2% (n = 114), neck pain 70.3% (n = 111), and low back pain 50.6% (n = 80). The participants with shoulder and neck pain
were combined and defined as cervicobrachial pain. The associated factor of cervicobrachial pain was working status. Being
a clinical instructor and postgraduate student were associated with cervicobrachial pain with OR being 4.7 [1.3, 7.1] and 4.6
[1.6, 13.4], respectively. The impacts of MS pain among the dental personnel included usage of pain relieving medication
(34.8%), seeking medical evaluation (32.3%), reduction in working hours (27.2%), difficulty sleeping (22.8%), and work
absence (10.8%), respectively. The treatments of MS pain utilized to alleviate those impacts were Thai traditional massage
(51.9%), medication (28.5%), physical therapy (15.8%), acupuncture (7.6%), and alternative medicine (4.4%), respectively.
Conclusion : Cervicobrachial pain was the most prevalent MS pain among the dental personnel and working status was
associated with their MS pain problems. The impact of MS pain was predominantly usage of pain relieving medication. Thai
traditional massage was the most utilized treatment.
Keywords : Prevalence, Musculoskeletal, Pain, Dentist, Dental assistant
