Prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders and its differences in left-handed and right-handed dental students of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences in 2020-2021

Musculoskeletal disorders are global problems and have a significant impact on quality of life. Studies show that the symptoms are shown in dental students before graduation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in dental students.

This study is a cross-sectional descriptive analytical study. The study population was dental students working in pre-clinics and clinics of Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. The data collection tool was Nordic standard questionnaire. The collected data were entered in SPSS 22 statistical software and were analyzed.

The data of 121 participants were analyzed. 84 participants (%69.4)had felt pain, discomfort or numbness in at least one part of their body which was mostly in neck (%45.5). No significant relationship was found between right handed/ left handed variables and musculoskeletal disorders (P-Value= 0.862).

The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among dental students is high. Prevalence measures and further educations must be provided in dental schools.