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

Michael Dierickx, Suzanne Verschraegen, Els Wierinck, Guy Willems and Astrid van Wieringen
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Michael Dierickx: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Dentistry, KU Leuven, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Suzanne Verschraegen: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Orthodontics, KU Leuven, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Els Wierinck: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Dentistry, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Guy Willems: Department of Oral Health Sciences-Orthodontics, KU Leuven, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
Astrid van Wieringen: Research Group Experimental Oto-rhino-laryngology, Department of Neurosciences, KU Leuven-University of Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 11, 1-13

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: occupational noise; digit triplet test; pure tone audiometry; noise-induced hearing loss; dentistry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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