Alertnesss of Maxillofacial Staff towards Occupational Impairment at Selected Maxillofacial Dental Clinics, Saudi Arabia

Background: the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidance for employers on promoting mental wellbeing through productive and healthy working conditions. Additional work related stress harms employees physical and mental health. (Chopra, et al. , 2008). Objective: Assess the level of Alertnesss of Maxillofacial Staff towards Occupational Impairment at Selected Maxillofacial Dental Clinics, Saudi Arabia. Method: A cross-sectional study, work postures were assessed in 140 maxillofacial dentists by employing REBA method. Stratified sampling method was used. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance (ANOVA), Independent t-test and Pearsons correlation test in SPSS version (21). Results: This study showed that Occupational Impairment of, the level of alertness towards the aspects of Occupational Impairment among the maxillofacial staff within the selected study setting was variable. The majority (56.71 %*) of the maxillofacial staff had a Very High Risks of occupational impairment. Followed by (61.42 %*) had a high risk level of work impairment. Moreover, (60 %*) of the maxillofacial staff have a Negligible level of occupational impairment. However, (56.42 %*) had a Moderate Risk of occupational impairment of the maxillofacial staff within the current study. Conclusions: The current study results revealed that there were high levels of Occupational Impairment within the study setting. Working postures need improvement for maxillofacial physicians and other dental staff, which will consequently leads to decrease the risk of harms which they face within the work environment. A planned comprehensive concerning occupational safety training and promotion is required in dentistry curriculum.