Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between wrong postures and pain during scaling and encourage dental hygienists and students to exercise scaling in a good position. After obtaining informed consent, 107 students (3rd and 4th grade students) who had an experience with scaling practice were enrolled. The questionnaire included three general items, four items related to the posture during scaling, and nine items related to pain management (total 16 items), for which the five-point Likert scale was used. Through the questionnaire, we examined the preference of posture during scaling, posture education during scaling, pain in each part during scaling, pain management, and pain management method. In the scaling exercise, 86.3% of the subjects were instructed on the correct posture, and 87.9% of the subjects perceived the possibility of inducing musculoskeletal disorders based on the scaling posture. The percentage of subjects who responded that they performed scaling in the correct posture was 33.6% and that of subjects who answered that they bowed or turned their head by more than 15° was 64.4%. Further, 45.7% of the subjects answered that they bent their shoulders, and 29.9% of the subjects answered that their postures were not parallel to the floor. Pain during scaling was still higher when they bent their head, they bent their waist, and they bent their wrist (p<0.05). During scaling, pain was most frequent in the fingers and hands (15%), followed by the neck (14%), shoulders (11.2%), waist (9.3%), and feet and legs (2.8%). The percentage of subjects who performed regular exercise (or stretching) to prevent pain was 29.9% and that of subjects who managed pain after scaling was 12.1%. Further, exercise (24.6%) and self-massage (20.3%) were highly used as the pain management methods, and the school practice was preferred to education media for pain management (79.4%). In the scaling practice, there was a training on pain management, but the frequency of practicing in the wrong posture was high. Moreover, pain increased upon practicing in an incorrect posture. Therefore, more in-depth and systematic education on the necessity and method of musculoskeletal disease management during scaling is required.
