Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among dentists in the Ha’il Region of Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Dentists suffer a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) but studies are quite limited. The present study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of MSDs among dentists in the Ha’il Region, Saudi Arabia. DESIGN AND SETTINGS: A cross-sectional, questionnaire study was conducted among 80 licensed dentists affiliated with the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ha’il Region, Saudi Arabia from January 2014-January 2015. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A self-administered questionnaire, based on the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was sent to participants after translation to Arabic. The questionnaire was delivered by mail with a prepaid return envelope. RESULTS: Sixty-eight questionnaires (85%) were returned. The prevalence of MSDs among respondents was 77.9% (n=53) with the most commonly affected areas the lower back (73.5%) (39/53) followed by the neck (66%) (35/53) and the shoulders (43.3%) (23/53). Twenty-four (45.2%) of 53 respondents had experienced MSDs in the neck and lower back at the same time throughout the past twelve months. Nearly 85% (45/53) of respondents were found to have MSDs affecting two or more sites. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of MSDs was high among dentists in the Ha’il region. Lower back, neck and shoulders were the most commonly affected body sites.