Dentists suffer a high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) but studies are quite limited. The present study was carried out to investigate the prevalence of MSDs among dentists in the Ha'il Region, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional, questionnaire study was conducted among 80 licensed dentists af.filiated with the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ha'il Region, Saudi Arabia from January 2014-January 2015. A self-administered questionnaire, based on the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire (NMQ) was sent to participants after translation to Arabic. The questionnaire was delivered by mail with a prepaid return envelope. Sixty-eight questionnaires (85%) were returned. The prevalence of MSDs among respondents was 77.9% (n=53) with the most commonly affected areas the lower back (73.5%) (39/53) followed by the neck (66%) (35/53) and the shoulders (43.3%) (23/53). Twenty-four (45.2%) of 53 respondents had experienced MSDs in the neck and lower back at the same time throughout the past twelve months. Nearly 85% (45/53) of respondents were found to have MSDs affecting two or more sites. Prevalence of MSDs was high among dentists in the Ha'il region. Lower back, neck and shoul.ders were the most commonly affected body sites.

Dental | Oral Health Education | Oral Health Promotion | Saudi Arabia | School Teachers

Objective. This study assessed the impact of toothache on school attendance among secondary school students in the Ha’il Region, Saudi Arabia. Methods. A cross-sectional, paper based survey was conducted among 16–18-year-old students of public sector secondary schools in the Ha’il Region, Saudi Arabia. Results. Of the 510 students selected from the participating schools, 480 were analyzed (94.1%). Of the sample, 50.4% were boys. Among the participants in the study, 86 students reported school absence due to toothache in the six months prior to the survey. Consequently, the prevalence of absenteeism due to toothache in this study was of 18%. Conclusion. The prevalence of school absenteeism due to toothache among students in the Ha’il Region was low. Yet, still, missed school days due to toothache may have implications for students also in the Ha’il Region, Saudi Arabia, as school absenteeism leads to missed opportunities for learning and academic advancement.

Background: This study aims to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) and associated sociodemographic and work-related factors among dental assistants (DAs) in the hail province, Saudi Arabia. Methods: Participants were 119 DAs with an average age of 28.9 years (SD ± 4.8 years), of whom 86.6% were females. A self-administered questionnaire which included Nordic Musculoskeletal questionnaire and questions on socio-demographic and work-related factors was used. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate the prevalence of MSDs during the past 12 months and 7 days. Multivariate binary logistic regression statistical tests were used to calculate the association between MSDs and socio-demographic and work-related factors. Results: The overall prevalence of MSDs among DAs was significantly high, with 85.7% reporting symptoms during the past 12 months and 47.9% during the past 7 days. The shoulders, followed by the lower back, were the most common complaints among participants in the past 12 months and 7 days, followed by the upper back and neck. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis results show significant associations between MSDs and age, Body-Mass-Index (BMI), physical demands during working hours, work environment and posture awareness, and years of experience. Conclusions: The prevalence of MSDs among DAs is high, and sociodemographic and work-related factors play an important role in exacerbation of MSDs in DAs.

Key Clinical Message: Deep margin elevation (DME) is a conservative treatment of a tooth with extensive subgingival caries. It is an alternative approach to more invasive restorative procedures. The DME enables successful tooth isolation to do root canal treatments and enables performing indirect restorations, improving dental function and patient comfort without complications.

Purpose: To investigate how varying ferrule heights and the number of glass fiber posts affect fracture resistance and behavior of endodontically treated maxillary first premolars with substantial loss of tooth structure.Materials and Methods: Twenty‐four extracted endodontically treated human maxillary first premolars were divided into three groups (n = 8) based on ferrule height and post number. The groups were as follows: premolars of 2 mm ferrule height that were restored with single posts (control group), premolars of 0.5 mm ferrule height that were restored with single posts in palatal canals (single‐post group), and premolars of 0.5 mm ferrule height that were restored with double posts in palatal and buccal canals (double‐post group). All groups were then restored with composite core and metal‐ceramic crowns cemented with zinc phosphate cement. All specimens were subjected to 10,000 thermal cycles at temperatures of 5°C and 55°C, as well as 1.2 million cyclic loadings of 49 N load at 1.2 Hz using a chewing simulator. The specimens were loaded to fracture in a universal testing machine and fracture behavior was examined under stereomicroscope and divided into restorable and unrestorable fracture modes. Fracture loads and modes were analyzed by one‐way ANOVA, Tukey's post hoc test, and Fisher's exact probability test (p ≤ 0.05).Results: The control group showed the highest mean fracture load (1127 ± 172) of all groups (p < 0.001). The specimens in the single‐post group showed numerically higher mean fracture load (522 ± 171) but with no significant difference compared to the ones in the double‐post group (518 ± 157; p > 0.967). In the control group, 75% of specimens showed unrestorable fractures compared to 50% and 12.5% in single‐post and double‐post groups. The specimens in the control group had similar unrestorable fractures, starting from the coronal part and extending obliquely to the cervical third of the root below resin level. Two specimens in the control group showed unrestorable fractures in the middle third of the root. No middle‐third root fractures were observed in single‐post and double‐post groups, and unrestorable fractures in both groups were similar to those of the control group. The single‐post group had two specimens with core‐post crown complex restorable fractures, while the control and double‐post groups had one specimen each. The remaining specimens showed cervical‐third root restorable fractures above resin level.Conclusion: The ferrule height significantly influences the fracture resistance of endodontically treated premolars compared to the number of placed posts. Nonetheless, more restorable fractures are seen in endodontically treated premolars restored with double posts than single posts regardless of ferrule height.