Abstract
To prevent musculoskeletal disorders(MSD) for dental hygiene students, who will potentially be at high risk of developing MSD while performing oral prophylaxis practice, an MSD prevention education program was designed and was offered to a group of dental hygiene students to find whether the program is effective. Before the program started and three months after the program ended, changes in the students' posture were filmed to observe them. The final subjects for analysis included 30 students in the experimental group and 41 students in the control group. To verify differences between the experimental and the control groups, repeated measures ANOVA was carried out before and after the program. After the education program, the experimental group's RULA scores for neck, left upper arm, right forearm, and wrist, RULA A score on both left and right side, RULA B score on left side, and total RULA score were significantly lowered during the operation on the upper jaw, compared with that of the control group. And, during the operation on the lower jaw, the experimental group's RULA A score, RULA B score, and total RULA score were very significantly lowered. The results of this study suggest the MSD prevention education program is effective in preventing the disorder. Thus, the program can be utilized as an education program for preventing MSDs during dental hygiene students' oral prophylaxis practice and clinical practice.
