PREVALENCE OF PHYSICAL HEALTH DISORDERS AMONG DENTISTRY STUDENTS

Abstract

Aims: To investigate the prevalence of physical health related disorders among undergraduate dental students and evaluate whether these disorders originated before or during their dental training.

Methods: A piloted questionnaire survey with ethical approval was carried out among 3rd – 5th year dental students from Vilnius University (n=84), the Medical University of Lublin (n=411) and the UiT The Arctic University of Norway (n=105) in 2016. Informed consent was obtained. The study included all the students who had started clinical practice (n=600). The final response rate was 78.8% (n=473).

Results: The majority of dental students (90.2%, n=424) felt that dental practice was physically difficult. Physical health disorders were prevalent: 63% (n=296) suffered from back pain sometimes or rarely, 17.2% (n=81) experienced this disorder on a chronic basis. Additionally, 54.1% (n=255) suffered from hand pain, 7.6% (n=36) experienced this disorder chronically; 60.9% (n=287) complained of neck pain sometimes or rarely, 14.0% (n= 68) experienced it on a chronic basis. There were no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of physical disorders between students from different year groups (p>0.05). The difference in some health related complaints between students from different universities was found: significantly more in students of the Medical University of Lublin, who more frequently suffered from neck pain (p>0.0001) and decreased sensation in fingers (p<0.0001) than students from the other universities. These physical disorders could occur because treating patients in lying position is not obligatory for students in Poland, where students are taught to treat patients in both lying and sitting positions.

Conclusion: The results of this study indicated early emerging physical health problems among dental students - they started to develop these problems from the beginning of clinical practice during dental undergraduate training. Therefore it is necessary to teach dental students ergonomic principles and motivate them to follow ergonomic requirements in their daily practice.