SUPERVISORS

ii Back pain has been reported to be the most common type of discomfort in all occupational groups. Studies have shown that dentists experience more neck, shoulder and back pain than practitioners in other occupational groups. This has caused an increase of social and economic costs of healthcare and increased frequency of sickness absenteeism in Western countries. About 72 % of dentists experience back pain according to studies done in Western countries thus showing a very high prevalence among dentist. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of back pain among dentistry undergraduate students. As there have been reports of high prevalence of back pain among dentistry students in Western countries. This descriptive research study made use of a cross-sectional quantitative survey to meet the objectives of the study design. Participants were undergraduate dentistry students (1st-5th yr) registered for the 2007 academic year at the University of Western Cape in South Africa. Ethical clearance wa