Work-related musculoskeletal disorders or MSDs are regarded as the primary reasons for early retirement among dentists and dental hygienists. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do in order to get rid of MSDs. Below are some of the things that can help lessen your risks to occupational musculoskeletal disorders, lengthen your dental career, and improve the quality of your work.

Ergonomics play a very important part of achieving a pain-free dental practice. Work-related musculoskeletal disorders or MSDs are regarded as the primary reasons for early retirement among dentists and dental hygienists. Fortunately, there are a few things that you can do in order to get rid of MSDs.

Dental Treatment


By observing preventive measures like using ergonomically designed products such as Schultz optical loupes and dental headlights, doing supervised exercise and stretching, maintaining a healthy posture while working, and proper patient positioning, among others, you can be able to lessen your risks to occupational musculoskeletal disorders, lengthen your dental career, and improve the quality of your work.

Proper magnification

The purpose of magnification is to enhance visual acuity. The magnification optical aids like ergonomically designed dental loupes, allow you to see the oral cavity more closely and clearly by enlarging the image of the dental field that you see through the optical lens and to work in an upright and neutral position.

Dental Loupe

Hand instruments

Unfortunately, there is still no existing standards for ergonomic hand instruments. However, you can be able to avoid work-related hand and wrist problems by using hand instruments that do not require you to exert extra effort. For instance, if you need to use a tool with sharp edges, make sure that the edges are really sharp enough to do the work. If the edges are dull, you will need to exert extra force to achieve the same result. Needless to say, using sharp instruments is better than using the dull one.

Proper finger temperatures

Like the ergonomic hand instruments, there are also no existing standards for proper finger temperatures. However, to play safe, it is best to keep the hands and fingers temperature at  77° F or 25° C or above. Keeping your fingers and hands at low temperatures can cause harmful effects on grip strength and dexterity.

Dental Headlight

Proper lighting

The oral cavity is such a dark and secluded field. While the natural external light can be used to illuminate the area, it is not enough to provide the required lighting to the operating field. You will need to use an artificial lighting device that produces shadow-free, stable, color-corrected, even, and high-quality illumination.

The portable dental headlight, for instance, can produce the right amount, quality, and stability of light that can be focused on the dental operating field. Dental headlights further enhance your visual acuity and help you get rid of eye fatigue or eyestrain which is often caused by absence proper illumination and magnification.

Exercise and stretching

Regular exercise is critical to one's health. You will need to work out every once in a while if you can't do it on a regular basis, not only to maintain a healthy body but also to get rid of MSD.

There are a few quick and simple stretching and exercise routines that can help you avoid or treat MSD. However, to make sure that you are doing the right thing, to avoid injury, and to know which exercise routine is most appropriate for your case, it is best to consult a physical therapist or a physician.