Singh Raghuwar D, Jurel Sunit K, Tripathi Shuchi, Agrawal Kaushal K, Kumari Reema
Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Dental Sciences, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Department of Community Medicine & Public Health, King George's Medical University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Biomed Res Int. 2014;2014:272750. doi: 10.1155/2014/272750. Epub 2014 Aug 4.
The objective of the study was to assess the awareness and performance towards dental waste including mercury management policy and practices among the dental practitioners in North India.
An epidemiologic survey was conducted among 200 private dental practitioners. The survey form was composed of 29 self-administered questions frame based on knowledge, attitude, and those regarding the practices of dentists in relation to dental health-care waste management. The resulting data were coded and a statistical analysis was done.
About 63.7% of the dentists were not aware of the different categories of biomedical waste generated in their clinics. Only 31.9% of the dentists correctly said that outdated and contaminated drugs come under cytotoxic waste. 46.2% said they break the needle and dispose of it and only 21.9% use needle burner to destroy it. 45.0% of the dentists dispose of the developer and fixer solutions by letting them into the sewer, 49.4% of them dilute the solutions and let them into sewer and only 5.6% return them to the supplier. About 40.6% of the dentists dispose of excess silver amalgam by throwing it into common bin.
It was concluded that not all dentists were aware of the risks they were exposed to and only half of them observe infection control practices.
本研究的目的是评估印度北部牙科从业者对牙科废物（包括汞管理政策和实践）的认知和操作情况。
对200名私人牙科从业者进行了一项流行病学调查。调查问卷由29个基于知识、态度以及牙医在牙科保健废物管理方面的操作的自填式问题组成。对所得数据进行编码并进行统计分析。
约63.7%的牙医不知道其诊所产生的不同类别的生物医学废物。只有31.9%的牙医正确表示过期和受污染的药物属于细胞毒性废物。46.2%的牙医表示他们会折断针头并丢弃，只有21.9%的牙医使用针头焚烧器销毁针头。45.0%的牙医将显影剂和定影剂溶液排入下水道，49.4%的牙医将溶液稀释后排入下水道，只有5.6%的牙医将其返还给供应商。约40.6%的牙医将多余的银汞合金扔进普通垃圾桶。
得出的结论是，并非所有牙医都意识到他们面临的风险，只有一半的牙医遵守感染控制措施。
