Ergonomics for the dental assistant.

Recently, ergonomics has become a popular term. The term has been used with most professions, but increasingly in the dental profession. When you hear ergonomics, many meanings may come to mind. According to Pollack (1989), ergonomics is a discipline that studies workers and their relationship to their occupational environment. This could include many different concepts such as how we position ourselves, how we position our patients, how we utilize equipment, how our work areas are designed and how all of these impact our health (Hodges, 1998).