Educational Program (Back School) to Improve Qualityof Life among Dentists

Objective: The low back pain is the most common and most costly occupational diseases. There are several interventions that can reduce low back pain. Program of back school is a short-term intervention and it is composed training programs, assesses and improved skills. The purpose of this study is to survey the impact of the program on the quality of life in dentists with low back pain. Material and methods: This clinical trial study consists of 32 dentists with chronic low back pain in the intervention group and 29 dentists in the control group. Control group were only under physical drug treatment and intervention group were trained in educational programs and physical drug treatment. Quality of life at baseline and after 6 months was assessed by the SF-36 questionnaire. Then, two groups were compared before and after the intervention. Results: The study shows that back school program is an effective treatment to improve the quality of life of dentistry. The dentists who were treated with this program within the indices of physical condition, physical performance and public health had higher scores (p<0.05). This represents a higher quality of life in these items in the patients. Discussion: According to the high prevalence of low back pain among dentists, back school program is a useful intervention for treatment of chronic low back pain and it can increase quality of life in dentists.