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ARTICLE
Year : 2011  |  Volume : 9  |  Issue : 5  |  Page : 375-382

Occupational Hazards and health complaints among Dentists in Bangalore


1 Department of Preventive and Community Dentistry, MS Ramaiah Dental College, Bangalore 560054, India
2 Hitakarini College of Dental Sciences and Research Centre, Dumna Airport road, Jabalpur, 482005, India

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Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None


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Background Dental practitioners are exposed to a variety of risks in routine practice like Infections, physical, chemical, psychological, and radiologic hazards. There are scarce data from India regarding the prevalence of such disorders faced by the dentists in private practice. Objectives To report occupational hazards and health complaints among dentists in private practice in Bangalore city. Methodology The authors interviewed 150 dentists in full/part time private practice for 3 years, selected by Simple random sampling from the Karnataka state dental directory 2002. They were interviewed personally and the data was recorded. They collected the demographic information, disorders related to practice and ageing and lifestyle. Data was analyzed using Excel (Microsoft 2007) and STATA 11.1. Results Of the 150 practitioners surveyed, male: female ratio was 1.8:1, majority were in the age group of 30-39 years. About Majority 70.7% were undergraduates (BDS) and 29.4% were postgraduates (MDS). Each of these dentists treated about 5-20 patients/day. The various disorders reported were musculoskeletal - cervical spondylitis (42%), Spinal Spondylitis (30.7%) and hand pain/ arthritis (11.3%), hypertension (36.7%), Ischemic heart diseases (0.7%), varicose vein (19.3%), anxiety disorders (38%), Glove allergy (19.3%), chemical allergies (24.0%) and contact dermatitis (18.0%). Conclusions Dentists are vulnerable to various work- related hazards and also medical disorders related to stress. Reducing the risks of hazards could be achieved by increasing awareness and to eliminating all known sources of occupational hazards by suggesting preventive measures and investigating the risk factors for such hazards.


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