Hong Kong Dentists’ Knowledge on Dental Ergonomics and Occupational Safety

Abstract

Objectives: 1) To assess Hong Kong dentists’ knowledge on dental ergonomics and occupational safety and 2) to relate the knowledge to the experience of selected occupational-related health problems. Methods: A random sample of 374 dentists who had practiced for at least 10 years was selected through systematic sampling from the list of registered dentists. Questionnaires were mailed to these selected dentists to collect the demographic information, the experience of selected occupational-related health problems, personal protective or preventive measures taken, the receipt and sources of information about occupational safety and health. It also included 20 questions for assessing the dentist’s knowledge on dental ergonomics and occupational safety.

Results: Altogether 148 completed questionnaires returned and 16 undelivered (response rate: 41.3%). Musculoskeletal pain was found to be the most common occupational-related health problem experienced by the dentists in the previous 3 months (74.3%). However, only 46.6% of the respondents performed simple office exercise and 14.9% avoided bending head and neck during patient treatment. About half (55.2%) had received information about occupational safety and health previously. For the dental ergonomics knowledge assessment, the mean numbers of correct answers were 12.3 (out of 20) and 11.0 (out of 17 questions related to musculoskeletal pain). Multiple logistic regression analysis showed that dentists who were females (OR=2.973, p=0.030), did not perform simple office exercise (OR=2.306, p=0.049), regular bent their head or neck during working (OR=3.926, p=0.011) and had more knowledge on dental ergonomics (OR=1.331, p=0.002) had significantly higher chance to experience musculoskeletal pain.

Conclusions: The experience of musculoskeletal pain was high among dentists. Occupational safety precautions were not commonly taken and the knowledge on dental ergonomics and occupational safety has much room for improvement.