RESUMEN
Objective To investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) in dentists and to analyze the risk factors of MSD to provide suggestions for preventing and reducing MSD in dentists. Methods Through stratified cluster random sampling, 373 dentists were selected from one Hospital of Stomatolagy and five general hospitals among Three-A hospitals in Wuhan as the research objects. The prevalence of MSD was surveyed using the Nordic musculoskeletal disorders standard questionnaire (NMQ) and Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) of pain measurement, and the risk factors of MSD was analyzed with binary Logistic regression. Results The total MSD annual prevalence rate of dentists was 93.3%, with a prevalence rate in neck, shoulder and back, waist and wrist at 78.3%, 70.0%, 56.0% and 36.2% respectively. Through Binary Logistic regression analysis, it was found that the risk factors associated with neck MSD were work fatigue（χ2=24.00，P=0.000）, neck hunching（χ2=23.55，P=0.000）, and shoulder side lift（χ2=24.52，P=0.000）. The risk factors associated with MSD in shoulder and back were work fatigue（χ2=34.64，P=0.000）, neck twisting（χ2=21.68，P=0.000） and wrist bending（χ2=45.87，P=0.000）. The risk factors associated with waist MSD were age（χ2=29.83，P=0.000）, majors（χ2=16.68，P=0.028）, work fatigue（χ2=21.08，P=0.000）, waist bending（χ2=22.88，P=0.000）. The risk factors associated with wrist MSD were gender（χ2=4.17，P=0.041）, majors（χ2=23.47，P=0.001）, working years（χ2=11.63，P=0.009）, physical activities（χ2=9.14，P=0.028）, number of patient visits per day（χ2=18.41，P=0.000）, bending and twisting（χ2=24.12，P=0.000）, wrist twisting（χ2=34.41，P=0.000）, and prevalence of microscope using（χ2=12.09，P=0.020）, while physical exercise was a protective factor for wrist MSD.The differences of the above-mentioned risk factors were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion The prevalence of MSD in dentists is relatively high, and hospital management should strengthen organizational training to help dentists to realize the importance of adopting correct operating posture, a 5-minute breaks during work, prevent MSD at an early stage.