Ergonomics Principles Applied to the Dental Clinic

Ergonomics is the study of the adaptation of the job to men, keeping the maximum comfort, safety, and efficiency. By its nature, the ergonomic principles in dentistry play a fundamental role on protecting the dental team health. All practitioners should learn and apply its principles since the initial education at the university. Changing bad habits is always more difficult than to learn and start working in the proper way. This chapter offers to the readers the principles of ergonomics in dentistry, such as how to ergonomically seat during the dental treatment and properly position the patient in the chair, in order to have the operating field facing the operator and assistant. Other topics such as how to grasp the instruments and rest the fingers in the oral environment, as well to control the environmental condition in order to protect the health, are explained. At the end, many exercises that can be done inside the dental office are shown, helping to prevent the most common work-related musculoskeletal disorders.