Occupational ocular accidents amongst Greek endodontists: a national questionnaire survey

Occupational Injuries in Greece: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Occupational injuries represent a significant public health issue, impacting workers' health, productivity, and economic stability. This systematic review aims to summarize and analyze the existing literature on occupational injuries in Greece, focusing on their prevalence, types, causes, and associated risk factors. A systematic search was performed using the databases PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science. Keywords used included ("occupational" OR "agricultural" OR "work-related") AND ("injuries" OR "accidents") AND ("Greece" OR "Greek"). Inclusion criteria were clinical studies providing quantitative data on occupational injuries in Greece. Case reports, reviews, studies in other than English language, and conference papers were excluded. Data were extracted regarding study design, population, types of injuries, causes, and risk factors. A total of 22 studies met the inclusion criteria, encompassing various sectors such as construction, agriculture, industry, and healthcare. Most studies were cross-sectional and retrospective cohorts. The prevalence of occupational injuries varied widely across different sectors, with construction and agriculture showing the highest rates, reaching 30%. Common types of injuries included fractures, sprains, and cuts, with machinery-related accidents and falls being the most frequent causes. Risk factors identified included young age, working inexperience, lack of safety training, insufficient protective equipment, and poor regulatory enforcement. Occupational injuries in Greece are a prevalent and diverse problem, heavily influenced by sector-specific factors and general safety culture. There is a need for improved regulatory frameworks, enhanced safety training programs, and better enforcement of existing laws to reduce the incidence of these injuries.

Knowledge of ocular infections among the dental practitioners across India: a cross sectional survey

BACKGROUND

Ocular issues such as impaired vision, ophthalmia, orbital cellulitis, and blindness are not common with dental infections. However, there is absence of set guidelines in prevention and management of ocular issues arising from dental infections. Hence the knowledge and vantage point of the dentists with respect to ocular complications arising from dental infections was evaluated.

OBJECTIVE

This study reviews the knowledge of dentists with association of eye infection due to dental contamination.

METHOD

A cross sectional survey using standardized questionnaires were sent suing social media platform among the academicians and practicing dental clinicians. All the questionnaires were content validated by three ophthalmologists. Descriptive statistics was scrutinized and tabulated by employing the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 17 (SPSS Inc., Chicago IL). Chi square tests was used.

RESULTS

About 69.1%(65) and 30.9%( 29) of BDS and MDS grduates have experienced ocular complications because of dental contamination. This distribution showed no statistical significance (p = 0.25). 73.8% (183) and 28.2%( 65) had compliance with the eye protection, 77.7% (160) of BDS graduates and 22.3% (46) of MDS graduates preferred safety eye wear. This distribution showed statistical significance (p = 0.00). About 76.2% (279) of BDS graduates and 23.8%( 67) of MDS graduates faced ocular infections because of different types of splashes which included water, blood and saliva. (p = 0.23) CONCLUSION: This study puts an emphasis on the knowledge assessment among the dental practitioners on the importance of preventive barriers, and how special protective gear is required for doing cases undergoing dental treatment.

Blood and saliva contamination on protective eyewear during dental treatment

Objectives

Dental treatments are inherently associated with the appearance of potentially infective aerosols, blood and saliva splashes. The aim of the present study was to investigate the quantitative contamination of protective eyewear during different dental treatments and the efficacy of the subsequent disinfection.

Materials and methods

Fifty-three standardized protective eyewear shields worn by students, dentists and dental assistants during different aerosol-producing dental treatment modalities (supragingival cleaning, subgingival periodontal instrumentation, trepanation and root canal treatment and carious cavity preparation; within all treatments, dental evacuation systems were used) were analysed, using common forensic techniques. For detection of blood contamination, luminol solution was applied onto the surface of safety shields. A special forensic test paper was used to visualize saliva contamination. Further analysis was conducted after standardized disinfection using the same techniques. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS.

Results

Macroscopically detectable contamination was found on 60.4% of protective eyewear surfaces. A contamination with blood (median 330 pixels, equivalent to 0.3% of the total surface) was detected on all shields after dental treatment. Between various dental treatments, the contamination with blood tend to be statistically significant (p = 0.054). Highest amount of blood was observed after professional tooth cleaning (median 1,087 pixels). Significant differences of saliva contamination were detected between the different measurements (p < 0.001) with contamination only after dental treatment. Due to the low variance and right-skewed distribution for saliva contamination, no statistical analysis between different treatments could be performed. After disinfection, 0.02% blood contamination and no saliva contamination were detected.

Conclusions

Disinfection is effective against blood and saliva contamination. Macroscopically, clean protective eyewear contains up to 12% surface contamination with blood. Based on the results, it may be concluded that protective eyewear is essential for each dental practitioner.

Clinical relevance

As standard for infection prevention in the dental practice, disinfection of protective eyewear after each patient is necessary.

Causes, occupational risk and socio-economic determinants of eye injuries: a literature review

Purpose

This review provides literature views on ocular trauma, with emphasis on common causes of injury, occupational risk, socio-economic factors, management peculiarities and some implications on overall care approach, from prevention to treatment.

Methods

A literature search was performed using key words in PubMed to extract the most relevant articles on ocular injuries, from an occupational point of view. Seventeen relevant articles were included out of seventy-two. Eight relevant articles were found from the references of the articles included and were also added. The total number of articles for this systematic search analysis was twenty-five. Collected information was tabulated in the Appendix.

Results

Most of the included publications were original articles. Many studies were retrospective and cross-sectional with a satisfactory rate of participant recruitment when reported. Most of eye injuries occurred in the workplace. Common eye injuries were due to foreign bodies and corneal abrasions. High-risk occupations included welders, farmers, metalworkers and grinding, construction and manufacturing workers. Most of the injuries could be preventable by using suitable protective eye devices (PED) but appropriate protection is a more complex process than it appears.

Conclusions

Findings of this review showed that it is compulsory to inform people about the risk and consequences of eye injuries. Eye care services should be designed keeping in mind geo-epidemiologic trauma etiology patterns and local health system capacity. Issues of adherence to prevention measures remain object of knowledge dissemination, educational planning and cultural appraisal. Modernizing equipment and respecting workplace regulations are tasks that deserve continuous attention.

Occupational Health Problems among Dentists in Croatia

AIM

To assess the health status among dentists in Croatia regarding the symptoms of musculoskeletal, dermatological, sight, hearing and neurological disorders.

METHODS

The anonymous online survey was conducted among 506 Croatian dentists.

RESULTS

It was found that over 78.18% of the surveyed dentists experienced work related pain in upper back, 76.97% of them in lower back. Work-related skin problems were reported by 29.29% of dentists. Vision problems were reported by 46.87% and hearing problems by 19.03% of participants. Neurological disorders were reported by 15.76% of dentists.

CONCLUSION

This study is the first to report on the overall health status of Croatian dentists and, unfortunately, it showed undesirable results. Numerous health hazards, increased professional requirements and limited ergonomics in the work environment of Croatian dental practitioners cause various health disorders, and the prevalence of occupational diseases is very high.

Work-related ocular events among Nigerian dental surgeons

Objective

Daily clinical activities in dental operatory expose dental surgeons to varied forms of ocular events. The purpose of the study was to determine the prevalence and pattern of ocular splashes and foreign bodies among dental surgeons in Nigeria.

Methods

This questionnaire-based cross-sectional of dental surgeons in Southern Nigeria was conducted between September 2010 and August 2011. The information elicited were demography, experience and type of ocular event, implicated dental procedure and action taken.

Results

Of the 185 studied, 148 of them responded. Of these 148 respondents, 56 (37.8%) reported foreign body, 18 (12.2%) splash, 33 (22.3%) both foreign body and splash while 41 (27.7%) reported no ocular event. It therefore means that the overall prevalence of ocular events among the respondents was 107 (72.3%). The prevalence of ocular events was significantly associated with age (p = 0.014), years of practice (p = 0.033) and safety eye goggle use (p = 0.023). The main dental procedures implicated in the ocular events among the respondents were scaling 77 (72.0%), tooth/cavity preparation 17 (15.9%), polishing 11 (10.3%) and forcep tooth extraction 10 (9.3%). The major implicated aetiological agents in the ocular events were calculus 74 (69.2%), saliva 29 (27.1%), mixed blood & saliva 19 (17.8%), tooth particles 15 (14.0%) and blood 9 (8.4%). The predominant action taken by the respondents was to rinse the eye under running water 89 (83.2%).

Conclusion

Ocular splash and foreign body events are high among dental surgeons in Nigeria. Age, years of practice and safety eye goggles wear were also found to be associated with ocular events. Eye safety awareness is therefore deemed a necessity for dental surgeon in Southern Nigeria.

Ocular health practices by dental surgeons in Southern Nigeria

Background

Dental professionals are among the occupational groups that experience ocular injuries and problems as they perform their daily dental works. The purpose of the study was to determine the ocular health practices by dental surgeons in Southern Nigeria.

Methods

This cross-sectional study was conducted on dental surgeons working in Southern Nigerian tertiary oral healthcare centers using self-developed validated questionnaire as the tool of data collection.

Results

Of the 148 respondents, 27 (18.2%) rated their ocular health as poor/fair. More than half 82 (55.4%) of the respondents have undergone professional eye examination with a quarter 20 (24.3%) of them having received it, in the last 6 months. Symptomatic care was the major reason for the last visit. Medicated glasses use was found to be significantly associated with perception of ocular health and receipt of professional eye examination. A total of 32 (21.6%) and 2 (1.4%) of the respondents reported non-use of eye goggles and face mask respectively. Non-availability and associated visual clarity with goggle use were the main inhibitor to the regular safety eye goggles use among the respondents. The main suggested ways among the respondents of improving goggle use were training and provision of goggles free of charge for dental surgeons. Only 32 (21.6%) of the respondents would be uncomfortable reminding their colleagues on need to use safety eye goggle while attending to patients.

Conclusion

Data from this study revealed that a significant proportion of the respondents rated the ocular health as excellent/good and do not regularly indulge in eye safety practices. Implementation of recommendation by the respondents may improve occupational eye safety among dental surgeons in Southern Nigeria.

Musculoskeletal disorders amongst Greek endodontists: a national questionnaire survey

AIM

To investigate amongst Greek endodontists the prevalence and characteristics of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) in the past 12 months, the treatment followed, their postures during practice and the adoption of ergonomic standards.

METHODOLOGY

One hundred and forty-seven endodontists met the inclusion criteria and were invited to participate in the survey. Participants were asked for personal/professional data, prevalence, characteristics and treatment for MDSs in the past 12 months. Endodontists' postures during practice as well as ergonomic factors were also recorded. Data were analysed using chi-square test, independent samples t-test and logistic regression. The level of significance was set at P = 0.05.

RESULTS

The response rate was 84%. MSDs were reported by 61% of the participants. Of them, 69% reported pain to more than one body part. The prevalence of disorders was highest in the lower back (30%) and neck (30%). Medical care was applied in 53% of the disorders. A sitting position was always used by 83% of endodontists. Awkward postures during practice (OR:4.561, 95% CI:1.341-15.512), regular stretching exercises (OR:0.032, 95% CI:0.010-0.110) and number of patients day(-1) (OR:3.524, 95% CI:1.686-18.100) were significant predictors for MSDs. Properly adjusted stools, sufficient lighting and space in the operating room were reported by 71%, 96% and 93% of participants, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

A high percentage of endodontists reported MSDs. Adoption of correct/neutral postures, regular performance of stretching exercises and reduced number of patients/day were associated with a low prevalence of disorders. The majority of endodontists had adopted ergonomic innovations/standards to control disorders.