Work-related musculoskeletal disorders among dental staff in Armed Force Hospital in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia

Background: Work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WMSD) is the most important public health challenge among dental staff. The objective of this study is to ascertain the prevalence and associated risk factors, which related to WMSD among dental staff in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study and 130 dental staff were selected through simple random sampling from in Armed Forced Hospital with at least 1 year of working experience. The self-administered validated and structured Standardized Nordic questionnaire was used. Logistic regression analysis was done to determine the association of risk factors with WMSD. Results: The results of the present study revealed that there was a high incidence of MSDs in the neck, shoulder, and lower back pain among dental personnel (72.6%). The common risk factors that contributed to WMSD were more than 5 years of experience (AOR 1.19 (1.03-2.82)), Saudi nationality (AOR 4.88 (1.27-18.72)), working more than 12 h (AOR 3.115 (1.258-7.578)) and resident doctors (AOR 1.14 (1.02-1.94)). Conclusions: The study concludes that WMSDs were a common and high rate of incidence among dental staff. There is a need to make a policy that will reduce the burden of WMSD among dental staff.