Back pain in dentists.

An epidemiologic survey was made of the prevalence of back pain in a sample of 172 dentists in the Province of Saskatchewan. In addition, demographic, postural and other variables were studied to determine their effect on back pain. The overall prevalence of back pain in the sample was 57 percent, while the prevalence of low-back pain was 35.5 percent. A significant number of back pain sufferers indicated recurrent or constant pain, and many dentists reported practice as an aggravating factor.