Evaluation of the effect of the ergonomic principle's instructions on the dental student's postures; an ergonomic assessment

Musculoskeletal disorders in dentists due to abnormal postures may result in economic and health problems. To prevent these problems, the working posture of dental students should be assessed and corrected in dental procedures. This study determine these problems and the effect of training courses on them by Rapid Entire Body Assessment method (REBA). The posture of 69 students were assessed by REBA before and after of the “Ergonomic principles in dentistry” course. The subjects which were used in the training course were based on the previous studies on this issue. The REBA scores were assessed by SPSS software using Paired T-test. The results showed that the students’ posture should be corrected. Postures of 94.2% of students were in moderate and high risk level which needed to be corrected. The worst working positions were during surgery, endodontic and pediatric dentistry procedures. Although the REBA scores before and after training course were statistically different (P<0.05), the training did not improve the posture of students remarkably. The students’ working postures should be improved. One-day ergonomic principles course improved the working posture of students but it was not sufficient. More training and instructions are needed to have a good working position in dental procedures.