Self-reported Occupational Health Problems among Libyan Dentists

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of the most common occupation-related health problems as well as factors associated with their incidence among dental practitioners. Materials and methods:A cross-sectional, questionnairebased survey of Libyan dental practitioners. Participants provided information regarding their experience of occupationally related problems they encountered over the past 12 months which included inquiries about musculoskeletal pain, percutaneous injuries, allergy, eye and sight problems, and hearing problems.Results: Musculoskeletal problems were the most frequently reported (48.2%), followed by percutaneous injuries (35%), eye problems (22%), allergy (11%) and hearing problems (7.6%). Musculoskeletal problems were significantly higher among dentists who work in private sector, full timer as well as those who prefer to work in a sitting position (p = 0.021, 0.027 and 0.008, respectively). Practitioners with less than 5 years in service reported significantly higher percentage of percutaneous injuries (p = 0.027) than their senior counterparts, whereas practitioners who spent more than 10 years in service were more likely to suffer from visual disturbances (p = 0.033). Conclusion:The findings of this study indicate that musculoskeletal problems and percutaneous injuries are the most commonly reported occupational health problems among dentists, whereas allergic reactions and hearing problems are the least reported ones.Clinical significance: Dentists should use alternate working positions to minimise musculoskeletal problems and adopt more effective strategies to prevent percutaneous injuries particularly among novices.

Global prevalence of percutaneous injuries among healthcare workers: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…16 It was worrying to observe that sharps injuries were commonly reported in countries where the prevalence of HIV and HBV are high and HBV vaccination coverage and HIV PEP uptake among HCWs are low. 17,18 The high prevalence of these infections coupled with the low uptake of HBV vaccination and HIV PEP could predispose many HCWs to these infections.…”

Prevalence of Reported Symptoms of Musculoskeletal Disorders among Doctors at the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

“…Within sub-Saharan Africa, this problem still remains common with prevalence of 65.4% among staff in the hospital in a study in Tunisia [15]; 73.2% (at more than one site), 78.75% and 48.2% musculoskeletal disorder symptoms reported among dental personnel in Cameroon and Libya respectively [16,17] as well as prevalence of 69.74% and incidence of 54.26% reported among South African General Surgeons and Dentists respectively [18,19]. A prevalence rate of 97.5% of these disorders was reported among sonologists 5 and a prevalence of 49.7% among clinical health workers in a Nigerian tertiary health facility and 95.2% among radiologists [20,21].…”

Occupational Allergies in Dentistry: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Group of French Dentists

“…Dental workers have a high risk of developing occupa-tional allergic diseases, particularly dermatoses, due to their daily and repeated exposure to many professional allergens. Although there are more data available on patients' allergies to dental products, several studies have already addressed occupational allergies affecting dental workers themselves [4,6,[12][13][14][15][16][17][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. However, to the authors' knowledge, this is the first one exploring such an occupational health problem in this particular population in France.…”