Posture in difficult dental home care settings, case series

Aliaa A. Khadre; Adil Alshehri; Aliaa A. Khadre; Adil Alshehri

doi:10.3934/jdms.2025005

Journal of Dentistry and Multidisciplinary Sciences

2025, Volume 1, Issue 1: 47-55. doi: 10.3934/jdms.2025005

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Case report

Posture in difficult dental home care settings, case series

Aliaa A. Khadre ^{1
,
,},
Adil Alshehri ²

1.
Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Suez Canal University, Egypt
2.
Department of Medicine, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia

Received: 08 April 2025 Revised: 20 August 2025 Accepted: 09 September 2025 Published: 22 September 2025

Dentistry is well known as being specifically physically demanding, considering the access, visibility, and difficulty of the operating field. Providing dental services to patients with severe limitations at home is a common request. Dental home care operators have many more duties than regular surgery duties. A dental home operatory setting can be completely different from surgery because operators must determine where to stand and how to position the mobile dental unit (MDU), the instruments, and their assistance all in relation to the patient's head. Position can play a significant role in performing smooth, successful, stress-free dental procedures. The operator's role is to select the most ergonomically sound position for themselves and their assistants depending on their knowledge, the available setting, and the type of dental procedure. The concern of posture is frequently discussed in literature because of its major contribution to the etiology of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), but never enough to encourage dentists to adopt healthy, safe working position within home care settings. This case series describes three bedridden patients who received dental services at home for various medical reasons. All were considered difficult positions as the patients were totally immobile. This case series aims to analyze postural strategies and provide practical ergonomic recommendations for dental professionals in complex domiciliary settings.
- posture,
- ergonomics,
- dentistry,
- dental home care,
- geriatric
Citation: Aliaa A. Khadre, Adil Alshehri. Posture in difficult dental home care settings, case series[J]. Journal of Dentistry and Multidisciplinary Sciences, 2025, 1(1): 47-55. doi: 10.3934/jdms.2025005

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Abstract

Dentistry is well known as being specifically physically demanding, considering the access, visibility, and difficulty of the operating field. Providing dental services to patients with severe limitations at home is a common request. Dental home care operators have many more duties than regular surgery duties. A dental home operatory setting can be completely different from surgery because operators must determine where to stand and how to position the mobile dental unit (MDU), the instruments, and their assistance all in relation to the patient's head. Position can play a significant role in performing smooth, successful, stress-free dental procedures. The operator's role is to select the most ergonomically sound position for themselves and their assistants depending on their knowledge, the available setting, and the type of dental procedure. The concern of posture is frequently discussed in literature because of its major contribution to the etiology of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), but never enough to encourage dentists to adopt healthy, safe working position within home care settings. This case series describes three bedridden patients who received dental services at home for various medical reasons. All were considered difficult positions as the patients were totally immobile. This case series aims to analyze postural strategies and provide practical ergonomic recommendations for dental professionals in complex domiciliary settings.

References

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