Self-reported occupation-related health complaints among dental laboratory technicians

Occupation-related health complaints were investigated among 101 women and 100 men employed in dental technology in Norway. In technicians older than 30 years, there were no age-related differences in frequency of self-reported health complaints. Gender-related differences in responses were limited to specific musculoskeletal symptoms. About half of the employees had experienced some kind of job-related health problem, among which musculoskeletal and dermal reactions were common (39% and 28%). Other health problems were respiratory (16%), systemic (16%), sensory (10%), or neurologic (7%). Ergonomics and work-specific stress factors were important etiologic factors for the musculoskeletal reactions, whereas chemical factors of dental material origin were related to the other reactions. Comparison of the present results with corresponding data from other occupations indicated that the duties of a dental technician combine the risk of ergonomically induced musculoskeletal reactions characteristic of manual labor with the risk of chemically induced reactions.