Bhuvaneshwari Srinivasan, Shveta Jain, Kaur Jasvinder, Soni Pooja, Zahra Fathimath, Jerry Jeethu John
Department of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Kalinga Institute of Dental Sciences, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, Phone: +91 7698348561, e-mail:
Department of Prosthodontics, Uttaranchal Dental and Medical Research Institute, Dehradun, India.
J Contemp Dent Pract. 2020 Oct 1;21(10):1165-1169.
Dental professionals are more prone to get exposed to various occupational health problems. The aim is to assess various dental occupational hazards and safety measures among dentists of Odisha, India.
The present study was conducted among 572 dental professionals of both genders. A self-administered questionnaire which comprises name, age, gender, number of years of experience, type of occupational hazard, awareness of occupational hazards, safety measures practiced, and working hours per week was given to dental professionals and the responses were recorded.
545 (95.2%) dentists were responded out of 572 participants. Age group 20-40 years had 55 males and 24 females, 40-60 years had 154 males and 84 females, and >60 years had 116 males and 60 females. 220 dentists had 10-15 years of experience, 190 had 5-10 years, 60 had <5 years, 40 had 15-20 years, and 35 had >20 years. The difference was significant ( < 0.05). The most common occupational hazard was musculoskeletal disorders seen in 480 (88%), stress in 273 (50%); maximum occupational hazard (52%) was noticed in dentists with <5 years of working experience; proper safety protocols adopted by dentists were the use of sterilized instruments 99%, gloves 98%, face mask 82%, vaccination against hepatitis 54%, head cap 51%, eyewear 12.6%, and proper waste disposal 7%. The difference was significant ( < 0.05).
The chances of occupational hazards are more common in dentists. The prevalence was higher among dentists with less than 5 years of experience.
Knowledge and awareness about occupational hazards can help prevent complications due to occupational hazards in dental practice.
牙科专业人员更容易面临各种职业健康问题。本研究旨在评估印度奥里萨邦牙医面临的各种牙科职业危害及安全措施。
本研究对572名男女牙科专业人员进行。向牙科专业人员发放一份自填式问卷，内容包括姓名、年龄、性别、工作年限、职业危害类型、对职业危害的认知、采取的安全措施以及每周工作时长，并记录其回答。
572名参与者中，545名（95.2%）牙医做出了回应。20 - 40岁年龄组有55名男性和24名女性，40 - 60岁年龄组有154名男性和84名女性，60岁以上年龄组有116名男性和60名女性。220名牙医有10 - 15年工作经验，190名有5 - 10年工作经验，60名工作经验不足5年，40名有15 - 20年工作经验，35名工作经验超过20年。差异具有统计学意义（<0.05）。最常见的职业危害是肌肉骨骼疾病，有480例（88%）；压力方面有273例（50%）；工作经验不足5年的牙医中职业危害最大（52%）；牙医采取的适当安全措施包括使用消毒器械的占99%，戴手套的占98%，戴面罩的占82%，接种肝炎疫苗的占54%，戴头罩的占51%，戴眼镜的占12.6%，正确处理废物的占7%。差异具有统计学意义（<0.05）。
牙医面临职业危害的几率更高。工作经验不足5年的牙医患病率更高。
对职业危害的了解和认知有助于预防牙科实践中因职业危害导致的并发症。
