Dental practice and perilous auditory effect as occupational hazard

Rajiv Saini¹, Gagan Saini², Santosh Saini³, Sugandha⁴,  
¹ Department of Periodontology, Rural Dental College, Loni, Maharashtra, India
² Department of Material Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, USA
³ Department of Microbiology, Rural Dental College, Loni, Maharashtra, India
⁴ Department of Prosthodontics, Rural Dental College, Loni, Maharashtra, India

Correspondence Address:
Rajiv Saini
Department of Periodontology and Oral Implantology, Rural Dental College, Loni
India

Full Text

Sir,

Despite numerous technical advances in recent years, many occupational health problems still persist in modern dentistry; these include percutaneous exposure incidents (PEIs); exposure to infectious diseases (including bioaerosols), radiation, dental materials and noise; musculoskeletal disorders; dermatitis and respiratory disorders; eye injuries; and psychological problems. [1] The hearing threshold in humans varies with the frequency of sound, and it is well known that dentists experience gradual hearing loss during their working life, especially because high-speed dental air turbines emit frequencies that can cause hearing loss. [2] Dental laboratory machine, dental hand piece, ultrasonic scalers, amalgamators, high-speed evacuation and other dental equipments and accessories produce sound noise at different sound levels, which is appreciable. [3] The noise of suction, saliva ejectors, turbines, engines, amalgamators and compressors causes impaired hearing. [4] In recent years dentists, dental technicians and dental assistants repeatedly had to be tested because of suspicion of noise-induced inner ear damage; and endangering by noise more than 85 db, which is considered an occupational risk. [5] The danger to hearing from the dental-clinic working environment in a dental school cannot be underestimated. [6] Work-related hearing loss continues to be a critical safety and health care issue. Indeed, the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) recently included occupational hearing loss in a list of the 21 priority areas for research in the next century. More elaborate studies are required to provide more details on the risks for occupational hearing impairment and vibration hand neuropathy and to determine whether the problems described are related to the practice of dentistry. [7] To fully understand the nature of the noise-related problems, further studies are needed to identify causative factors and other correlates of auditory hazards in dental practice. Continuing education, exploration and research for interventions to help diminish the pervasiveness of the hazards of noise are also needed. Therefore, it is imperative that dentists remain relentlessly well versed regarding up-to-date measures on how to deal with newer technologies and dental equipments in clinical use.

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