Musculoskeletal disorders in left- and right-handed Turkish dental students

The purpose of this study was two-fold: first, to find out the musculoskeletal disorders between left- and right-handed dentists and second, to describe the prevalence and distribution of symptoms of musculoskeletal disorders among Turkish students who are practicing general dentistry. The investigation was carried out on 221 dental students; group I consisted of 24 left-handed students (18 male, 6 female), aged 24.2+/-2.24 years; group II comprised 24 right-handed students (14 male, 10 female), aged 25.1+/-3.14 years; and group III included 173 right-handed students (102 male, 71 female), aged 24.3+/-1.45 years. The study consists of a questionnaire to identify work tasks and working conditions, and a field study to assess the pain of the neck, shoulders, and other disorders during the dental practice. Data were analyzed through tests for the difference between two population proportion, percentage, and Chi-square. Left- and right-handed students had headaches (34%, 22%), pins and needles (35%, 22%), weakness (42%, 40%), numbness (23%, 19%), neck pain (67%, 43%), back pain (56%, 47%), upper limp pain (46%, 43%) and shoulder pain (78%, 58%), respectively (Table 3). Female students were not significantly different from males in musculoskeletal symptoms (p>.05). The position adopted by the student was significantly related to the intensity of pain. Left-handed students especially suffered from neck and shoulder pain when compared with right-handed students (p<.06). The authors think that a modification of work practices appears to be effective in decreasing the prevalence of symptoms. The best ergonomic working principles should be taught to the students, dental schools should provide a comfortable working environment, and further study is required to identify factors that will reduce the prevalence of symptoms among those practicing general dentistry.