ADVERSE HEALTH REACTIONS IN SKIN, EYES, AND RESPIRATORY-TRACT AMONG DENTAL PERSONNEL IN SWEDEN

Dental personnel manually handle products that contain monomers. Sever al studies have documented adverse health effects after exposure to su ch products. Gloves made of vinyl or latex are easily penetrated by mo nomers. Ordinary glasses, or visors, do not protect against vapour fro m polymer products. Dental face masks filter out about 40% of respirab le particles. To survey the prevalence of asthma, atopic dermatitis, c onjunctivitis, hay fever/rhinitis, and hand eczema among dental person nel, a questionnaire was distributed to all dental teams in Northern S weden. Referents were researchers, teachers, and secretaries from the same geographical area. The response rate was 76% for dental teams, an d 66% for referents. The results show a significantly higher prevalenc e of conjunctivitis, and atopic dermatitis among dentists, both male a nd female. Hypersensitivity to dental materials was reported by signif icantly more dental personnel than by referents.