Sensory perception in the hands of dentists.

The difference between the dominant and nondominant hands in the perception of vibration, temperature, and heat pain was compared between 26 dentists with long-term exposure to high-frequency vibration and 18 with short-term exposure. The dentists with long-term exposure had larger vibration threshold differences than those with short-term exposure, both for digit II (exposed to high-frequency vibration) and for digit V (unexposed), whereas the temperature and pain thresholds were similar. The former group had neurological symptoms in the dominant hand more often than the latter. Vibration threshold differences of exposed digit II and unexposed digit V were higher for the symptomatic dentists than for the symptom-free dentists. Since the exposed and unexposed fingers were similarly affected, the neurological symptoms in the dominant hand of dentists with long-term exposure seem to have some other etiology than high-frequency vibration.