1. INTRODUCTION
Dentists have a high incidence of occupational back pain and injury, in some cases making it impossible for them to continue to work as dentists.
The nature of dental work means flexion of the lumbar spine and subsequent loading on inter vertebral discs or extra tension in the spinous ligaments both of which can contribute to discomfort and pain.
Mechanisms of trauma are dealt with only briefly because they are not of widespread interest, and there is little scientific work to support the classifications of injuries that are currently accepted. On the other hand, a great deal of effort has been spent on trying to understand the origins of limited structural failure in spinal tissues, because such failure is extremely common, is linked to back pain and tissue degeneration, and may be both preventable and treatable.
Not every case of back pain means that is damage in the tissues, and many have no detectable spinal pathology of any kind. Evidence is mounting that mechanical back pain can arise directly from high, but non-damaging, stress concentrations within innervated tissues.
A review of the literature documenting back/neck pain in dentistry has found that there are multiple areas of investigation. These include; firstly, the risk of dentists developing neck/back pain in the first place, secondly, the prevalence of back pain among the dental profession (including dental students), thirdly, the various treatments for back pain prescribed by physicians and, lastly, the various alternative therapies that can be provided by those working in such areas e.g. acupuncture.
A number of studies have examined the ergonomics issues associated with …
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