Thermoghraphical methods in highlighting the tendinitis in dentistry.
Stratul, Stefan Ioan ; Rusu, Darian ; Kulcsar, Raul Miklos 等
1. INTRODUCTION
The ergonomics aim is to adapt the working conditions to the
workplace specific requirements and to the personnel work capacity. The
applied ergonomics success is reflected by the productivity increase,
reduced occupational diseases and staff satisfaction increase.
Without applying ergonomics principles, on the other hand, can
cause musculoskeletal disorders caused by working conditions. In the
category of risk factors, an important place is occupied by: repetitive
tasks, long term effort activities, lifting and handling heavy objects,
incommode and lasting working postures. The risk level depends on the
intensity, frequency and duration of exposure to these factors (Rucker
& Boyd, 1998).
It is estimated that musculoskeletal problems caused by work
factors, are predominant in dental medicine.
Dental specific work leads to hand and wrist problems. The
tendinitis syndrome can be associated with repetitive work. It is
generally associated with repetitive movements, combined with prolonged
objects handling without any hand or arm supports (Argesanu, 2004).
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The tendinitis syndrome is most common in dental surgery. In this
case the dentist is compelled to work by maintaining his hands in the
air, for a prolonged time.
In this study we used thermo graphical methods to evidence the
difference between two dentists, one with the tendinitis syndrome and
the other with healthy hands.
The temperature recorder (thermograph) is an important tool for
medical diagnosis because science has managed to prove that all diseases
cause temperature changes in a suffering organ. Some types of disorders
lower the temperature in that particular organ, others raise it.
The infrared camera we used was FLIR B200 which is based on
settings that sense and record on tape the cold and warm areas of the
human body by detecting infrared radiations wich react to blood flow.
The FLIR B200 camera measures temperature values between -20[degrees]C
and +120[degrees]C. The incorporated digital camera (1.3 Mpixels) offers
the possibility to easily observe and evaluate the picture
(flirb200.com.2010).
2. PRELEVATION OF DATA AND RESULTES
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This study underwent in one shooting session during a dental
surgery performed by both dentists.
The prelevation of data started before the surgery and continued by
taking the infrared pictures every 10 minutes, during the surgery.
The infrared pictures show both dorsal and palm sides of the hands
highlighting the difference between a ill tissue and a healthy one.
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The conditions that had to be fulfilled to assure the accuracy of
the study were the following:
* Low surrounding temperature, to avoid errors in measuring the
real body temperature (the air was renewed, the airconditioner was
turned on and the lights were turned off);
* The dentist's position was maintained for a longer period of
time;
* The dentists have drided their hands before taking the picture.
3. CONCLUSION
After a careful examination of the infrared pictures it became
apparent that the tendinitis syndrome modifies the hands temperature and
temperature distribution. As shown the hands with the tendinitis have
higher temperature within a larger range than the healthy hands.
After beginning the surgery, the healthy hands temperature and
temperature distribution range started to increase, as normal. While the
temperature distribution range of the hands with the tendinitis syndrome
started to easily decrease.
This shows how the tendinitis syndrome can appear in the dental
surgery field and generally musculoskeletal problems in the absence of
the ergonomics principles.
The thermo graphical methods can highlight most of musculoskeletal
problems, and can be an efficient tool in applying the ergonomics
principles in dentistry especially in dental equipment design.
In the case of tendinitis, this research can lead to an improvement
of prevention, and highlight the tendinitis syndrome as an occupational
disease.
4. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This work was partially supported by the strategic grant
POSDRU/88/1.5/S/50783, Project ID50783 (2009), co-financed by the
European Social Fund--Investing in People, within the Sectoral
Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013.
5. REFERENCES
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*** www.flirb200.com/ FLIR B200 Infrared Camera Users's Manual
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