Assessment of occupational noise-related hearing impairment among dental health personnel

Al-Omoush, Salah; Abdul-Baqi, Khader J.; Zuriekat, Margaret; Alsoleihat, Firas; Elmanaseer, Wijdan R.; Jamani, K. D.

doi:10.1002/1348-9585.12093

Cited by 24 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 32 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In our study, the profession of dentist does not seem to induce a higher incidence of NIHL than controls. Our data are in line with previous reports [15,[26][27][28]31], while others reported contrary results [11,13,14,[23][24][25]46,47]. Since both older cohorts had been working for more than 20 years on average and show similar incidence of HL, our study cannot confirm that duration of exposure significantly affects hearing in dentistry, as was reported by Gurbuz, who found a significant correlation between the total working duration (years × days × hours) and the level of HL at all frequencies [11].…”

Section: Hearing Losssupporting

confidence: 93%

“…While the exposure levels of contemporary dental equipment may have become less hazardous in time, occupational HL remains a matter of debate. Some studies have reported poorer hearing thresholds for dental professionals compared to controls [11,13,14,[23][24][25], while others report similar hearing thresholds [15,[26][27][28]. Audiometric patterns generally reflect a mild hearing impairment between 2 and 6 kHz, but by no means with all dental professionals (e.g., [14]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Noise Disturbance and Potential Hearing Loss Due to Exposure of Dental Equipment in Flemish Dentists

Dierickx

Verschraegen

Wierinck

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Long-term exposure to occupational noise is often associated with noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) among dentists. This study aims to investigate potential hearing loss (HL) and self-reported annoyance as a result of exposure to noise produced by contemporary dental equipment. Methods: Three cohorts participated: 53 dentists with more than 5 years of service, 47 dentists with at most 5 years of service, and 53 pharmacists as controls, age and gender-matched to the first group. After the exclusion of one person, the hearing of 304 ears was screened with the Flemish version of the digit triplet in noise test (DTT). If screening failed, otoscopy and pure tone audiometry (PTA) were performed for both ears. Furthermore, general information, knowledge, exposure, annoyance, general health, and preventive measures were assessed with a custom-made questionnaire. Results: NIHL did not occur significantly more often with dentists than with controls. However, dentists revealed a significantly higher annoyance (related to the noise from their equipment) and reported more complaints than the pharmacists. All three groups indicated lack of knowledge on hearing care. Conclusions: While noise levels in contemporary dentistry are not harmful and do not induce NIHL, the sounds emitted by the devices are disturbing and affect mental health. This study calls for increased awareness of the consequences of sound exposure and stresses the need to monitor and protect the hearing of dentists regularly.

show abstract

Section: Hearing Losssupporting

confidence: 93%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise Disturbance and Potential Hearing Loss Due to Exposure of Dental Equipment in Flemish Dentists

Dierickx

Verschraegen

Wierinck

et al. 2021

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Many dental equipment generate sounds and significantly increase the noise levels in the working environment for DCPs [ 58 , 59 ], which may contribute to hearing loss in dental professionals [ 60 , 61 ]. The high-volume evacuation commonly used during dental procedures raised the noise level to 77 dB [ 35 , 59 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of mechanical ventilation and portable air cleaner on aerosol removal from dental treatment rooms

Ren

Huang

Marzouk

et al. 2021

Journal of Dentistry

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…On the contrary, hearing loss was more among dental professionals as compared to dental assistants and technicians. [ 27 ]…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Noise levels encountered in university dental clinics during different specialty treatments

Baseer

Saffan

AlMasoud

et al. 2021

Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Noise levels encountered during the dental treatments in different departments have deleterious effects on the ears of dental healthcare providers and there is scarcity of data in the literature in Saudi Arabia. Hence, the aim of the study was to determine the noise levels resulting from the usage of different specialty instruments and equipment. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to measure the level of noise produced by different specialty instruments and equipment within the dental clinics of the College of Dentistry, Riyadh Elm University (REU), Riyadh. The noise produced during the restorative treatments, endodontics and prosthodontics was recorded objectively using a decibel (dB) meter placed at a distance of 30 cm from the operator's ear. Mean noise levels were calculated and compared among the various specialty treatments using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Furthermore, Tukey's test was applied to perform a pairwise comparison between the groups. Results: An overall noise of 73.83 ± 4.39 dB was found to be generated within the dental clinical setting. A highest sound level of 79.44 ± 2.10 dB was observed during restorative treatment followed by 74.14 ± 3.08, 73.22 ± 1.93, 71.39 ± 3.37 and 70.97 ± 4.70 dB for endodontic, periodontal, and prosthodontic treatments, respectively. A statistically significant difference was observed in the noise levels produced from the different specialty treatments ( P = 0.000). Conclusion: The greatest noise level was recorded with the use of the amalgamator in restorative dental treatment. It was inferred that the noise emanating from all the specialty dental treatments was below the hazardous levels. Long-term exposure may, however, have adverse effects on auditory as well as general health.

show abstract

Assessment of occupational noise-related hearing impairment among dental health personnel

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Cited by 24 publications

References 32 publications

Noise Disturbance and Potential Hearing Loss Due to Exposure of Dental Equipment in Flemish Dentists

Noise Disturbance and Potential Hearing Loss Due to Exposure of Dental Equipment in Flemish Dentists

Effects of mechanical ventilation and portable air cleaner on aerosol removal from dental treatment rooms

Noise levels encountered in university dental clinics during different specialty treatments

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About