NII recognizes connection between dentists’ work and chronic back pain

A dentist's claim saying his chronic back pain was a "work casualty" was originally rejected, creating a backlash.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
Updated: FEBRUARY 20, 2018 04:24
Dentist´s instruments (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
Dentist´s instruments
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
After a long legal battle, the connection between the repeated movements of a dentists’ bending over the patient and suffering from chronic back pain has been proven.
A dentist in his early 50s, who worked for more than 20 years with patients and who has suffered from chronic back pain and movement restrictions in recent years, fought through his lawyers for his pain to be recognized as a “work casualty.”
At first he turned to a National Insurance Institute doctor who rejected his claim. Attorney Zvi Paradis, an expert on vocational health claims, filed a suit with the Haifa Labor Court, claiming that his client’s back pain was caused by the unique manner in which dentists stand or sit while handling their patients. His claims were rejected.
The lawyer than filed an appeal with the National Labor Court in Jerusalem, which ruled that the case would be returned to the regional labor court in Haifa court for a re-hearing. That court appointed another medical expert who determined that there is a causal relationship in over half of the lower-back-pain problems among dentists.
According to the expert, the defect suffered by the dentist is due to “the multiplicity of functions of bending the body’s alignment and alternately bending to the right and left during his work.”
Therefore, according to the principle of micro-trauma, it must be recognized as a work injury. As a result, the dentist was able to apply for a medical committee to determine his disability.