Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) frequently occur among dental practitioners and present a significant occupational burden with an early onset in the dentists' career. This study aimed to analyze the five-year development of self-reported overall MSDs among the dentistry students during the course of their studies and to assess the possible influence of the risk as well as protective factors. The questionnaire inquiry was performed among the first-year dentistry students, regarding the occurrence of MSDs and the presence of potential risk and protective factors. The same students were followed, and they filled in the same questionnaire in the middle and at the end of their studies. A total of 73 dentistry students and 28 general medicine students participated. The occurrence of the overall MSDs statistically significantly increased from 30.1% at the beginning of the first year to 45.2% at the end of the fifth year among the dentistry students. The top-level sport was statistically significantly associated with the higher occurrence of MSDs in the fifth year and with the development of new MSDs between the first and the fifth year. This longitudinal prospective evaluation showed a significant increase in the MSDs occurrence among the dentistry students during their studies.

Department of Dentistry Charles University Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové and University Hospital Hradec Králové 500 05 Hradec Králové Czech Republic

Department of Medical Biophysics Charles University Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové 500 03 Hradec Králové Czech Republic

Department of Preventive Medicine Charles University Faculty of Medicine in Hradec Králové 500 03 Hradec Králové Czech Republic

Department of Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Charles University 2nd Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Motol 150 06 Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Sports Medicine 150 00 Prague Czech Republic

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