Standardized photometric assessment method: A novel approach for the analysis of dental ergonomic posture

BACKGROUND: Identification and documentation of the proper and improper dental ergonomic postures have gained its importance in the recent years due to the increased prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) among dentists and dental students who do not practice proper ergonomic procedure. AIM: The aim of the present study is to analysis ergonomic posture among dental students while performing supragingival scaling (SGS) procedure, using the standardized photometric assessment method (SPAM). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total number of 90 students from the third year (III year) to final year (IV year) and internship (Intern) (30 each) were included in the study. All the 90 students were asked to perform SGS procedure and were photographed and analyzed using the current technique. Eight dental ergonomic postures were analyzed in this study and grouped according to the classification system developed for scoring dental ergonomic postures by Garbin et al., in 2011. Analysis of variance test with Bonferroni correction was used to statistically analyze the collected data. RESULTS: The mean index value for III year, IV year and Intern were 2.00, 2.03, and 2.13, respectively, which was not statistically significant (P = 0.709). CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the dental students using the current method showed that most of them come under inadequate and regular category which puts them in a high risk for developing WMSDs. The SPAM to analyze the dental ergonomic posture was simple and effective and should be further explored in the future studies for its pros and cons.