Date: Wed, 11 May 1994 13:26:41 -0700 From: Deborah Stiles Subject: Re: Injury Stats: Dental Profession On Tue, 10 May 1994, Kris Montgomery wrote: > > My question, should you decide to consider it, is: does anyon have stats or > info on workers specifically in the dental profession of folks with RSIs of > any kind. You can post to me privately at: montgome@sonoma.edu. > I am posting this to everyone. Others might be interested. I recently spoke to a group of dental hygienists about occupational stress and RSI prevention. 20% of dental hygienists and 8% of dentists experienced musculoskeletal pain in the back, neck, shoulders, and arms/elbows. Source:Jacobson, (1989). Ocuupational health problems and adverse patient reactions in periodontics. Journal of Clinical Periodontology, 16, 428-433. Arm pain was greater in dental hygienists (17%) compared to arm pain in dentists (4%). In 1987, the annual income lost to dentistry due to musculoskeletal pain was estimated to exceed $41 million. Source: Shugars, et al., (1987). Musculoskeletal pain among general dentists. Gen Dent., 535, 272-276. 7% of the respondents (90% response rate from 493 surveys mailed out) had been diagnosed as having CTS. However, 63% had experienced one or more hand symptoms suggestive of CTS. 34% stated that musculoskeletal pain affected their clinical practice in the past year. 53% reported pain in the lower back although it occurred less often during the year than other areas. The most frequently occurring symptomatic area was in the upper back but it affected only 22% of the respondents. Source: Osborn, et al., (1990). CTS among Minnesota Dental Hygienists, JDH, Feb., 79-85. A survey of 2400 dental hygienists found statistically significant correlations between CTS symptoms and the number of years practiced, number of days worked per week, and the number of patients seen per day. Source: MacDonald, Robertson, & Erickson, (1988). Carpal tunnel syndrome among California dental hygienists, Dental Hyg., 62, 323-328. Debbie Stiles, MN, RN