Occupational Hazards In Dentistry Essay

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Although modern dentistry has been described as probably among the least hazardous of all occupations, many risks remain in dental practice which continue to challenge this status. These include percutaneous exposure incidents (PEI), exposure to infectious agents including bio aerosols, musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), eye injuries, vibration induced neuropathy, exposure to radiation, noise and dental materials and psychological conditions. When such risks cannot be engineered out of the dental clinic, appropriate occupational health and safety measures need to be adopted by dental staff and dental students. The current paper reviews studies relating to occupational hazards and occupational health problems in dental practice, updating a previous literature review.

DEFINITION OF OCCUPATIONAL HAZARD …show more content…

Methods An extensive literature review was conducted which included articles published in peer reviewed journals and pub med indexed journals relating to occupational hazards in dentistry. Only articles of English language were included. The review itself began with the search of the relevant Medical Subject Headings such “occupational hazards”, “musculoskeletal disorders”, “dentists” in Pub Med, the official literature search engine of the National Library of Medicine in United States. The focus of the present review would be the occupational hazards in dentistry and the occupational health problems of dentists.

Occupational Hazards in Dentistry Professionals in dentistry are exposed to many occupational hazards; their effects appear as ailments that affect the dental practitioner and tend to intensify with age.2 Although identification of the risks to orthodontists and other dental professionals has been explored in several studies but the level of awareness of potential health risks for operators is very low in developing countries like in

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