title: Do dental students have a neutral working posture?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Dentists are susceptible to Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) due to prolonged static postures. To prevent MSDs, working postures of dental students should be assessed and corrected in early career life.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study estimated the risk of developing musculoskeletal disorders in dental students using Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) tool.
  
  
  METHODS
  A number of 103 undergraduate dental students from fourth and fifth academic years participated. Postures of these students were assessed using RULA tool while working in the dental clinic. They also answered a questionnaire regarding their knowledge about postural dental ergonomic principles.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The majority of the students (66%) were at intermediate and high risk levels to develop MSDs and their postures needed to be corrected. There was no significant correlation between RULA score and gender, academic year and different wards of dental clinics. There was no significant correlation between knowledge and RULA scores.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Dental students did not have favorable working postures. They were at an intermediate to high risk for developing MSDs which calls for a change in their working postures. Therefore students should be trained with ergonomic principles and to achieve the best results, ergonomic lessons should be accompanied by practice and periodical evaluations.
authors.affiliation: Dental Materials Research Center, Department of Community Oral Health, School of Dentistry, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Taraneh
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Movahhed
authors.affiliation: Dental Research Center, Department of Orthodontics, School of Dentistry, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Mahboobe
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dehghani
authors.affiliation: Department of Occupational Health Engineering, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.
authors.forename: Shirazeh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arghami
authors.affiliation: Department of Periodontics, Louisiana State University, New Orleans, LA, USA.
authors.forename: Afarin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Arghami
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D006804:Ergonomics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D013335:Students, Dental
keywords: Dentistry; RULA; ergonomics; musculoskeletal disorders; posture