Review on scope and trends in ergonomic evaluation of work posture in dentistry

Ergonomics is a systematic approach to study the relationship between the individuals, their tools and the work environment. While studying ergonomic considerations for dentists, it is observed that they suffer from musculoskeletal disorders (back pain) due to repetitive and awkward or stressful motions during their operation. This paper involves the literature survey on ergonomic design of dentist chair and associated studies in dentistry. There is scope for implementing the modifications leading to the design of a new support arm to the dentist chair. In the literature it was found that static and dynamic analysis could be used to find stress (compressive force on lumbar disc) in the human body by Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) risk assessment technique for different loading conditions. Thus it was observed that there is a need for designing a new support arm to reduce musculoskeletal disorder problems. This paper will help the dental professionals to adopt correct human postures, which will enhance their working capacity to work in a pain - free environment to deliver quality dental care to their patients by providing support to forward - leaning postures.