Occupational Exposures and Reporting Rates Among Dentists and Dental Students

Objectives: Exposure to blood and other oral fluids is common within dental practice and may carry the risk of transmission of infections.
The key to reducing this risk is using the Universal precautions method and following post-exposure protocols of the Israeli Ministry of Health in cases of occupational exposure.
Published data from other studies abroad has shown that despite the known risk of infections transmission during occupational exposures, the compliance to post-exposure protocols is unsatisfactory. The aim of this study was to investigate the incidence of such exposures and the rate of post-exposure reporting among Israeli dentists and dental students; to evaluate the knowledge vs compliance with post-exposure protocols and to identify possible failure points in the process.
Methods: Digital questionnaires were distributed to dental students in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and dentists in Israel.
Results: 69 students and 105 dentists participated and answered the questionnaires. Mean exposure rates for dentists were 2.9 for skin penetrating injuries, 6.8 for mucocutaneous exposures, and 16.6 for intact skin superficial contamination. Students experienced fewer exposures (3-4 times). Only 30.3% of dentists and 16.2% of students complied with the reporting guidelines, although their knowledge of the post-exposure management guidelines was good. The most common reason for occupational injuries according the students is "the lack of dental assistant" (stated by 76%). The main reason for not reporting, for both study populations was their perceived transmission risk as very low.
Conclusions: Most Israeli dentists and dental students which participated in this study did not report their past occupational exposures, despite awareness of regulations and risks. Therefore increasing awareness, refreshing the knowledge of post-exposure guidelines and simplifying the whole reporting process may result in improved compliance .In addition, working with dental assistants may decrease the injuries rates among students.