Journal
JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HYGIENE
Volume 15, Issue 5, Pages 441-447Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC
DOI: 10.1080/15459624.2018.1432864
Keywords
Dental laboratory; dental materials; dental office; particle exposure
Funding
- Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS [P3-074]
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During material treatment in dentistry particles of different size are released in the air. To examine the degree of particle exposure, air scanning to dental employees was performed by the Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer. The size, shape and chemical composition of particles collected with a low-pressure impactor were determined by scanning electronic microscopy and X-ray dispersive analysis. The average concentrations of nanoparticles during working periods in a clean dental laboratory (45,000-56,000 particles/cm(3)), in an unclean dental laboratory (28,000-74,000 particles/cm(3)), and in a dental office (21,000-50,000 particles/cm(3)), were significantly higher compared to average concentrations during nonworking periods in the clean dental laboratory (11,000-24,000 particles/cm(3)), unclean laboratory (14,000-40,000 particles/cm(3)), and dental office (13,000-26,000 particles/cm(3)). Peak concentration of nanoparticles in work-intensive periods were found significantly higher (up to 773,000 particles/cm(3)), compared to the non-working periods (147,000 particles/cm(3)) and work-less intensive periods (365,000 particles/cm(3)). The highest mass concentration value ranged from 0.055-0.166 mg/m(3). X-ray dispersive analysis confirmed the presence of carbon, potassium, oxygen, iron, aluminum, zinc, silicon, and phosphorus as integral elements of dental restorative materials in form of nanoparticle clusters, all smaller than 100 nm. We concluded that dental employees are exposed to nanoparticles in their working environment and are therefore potentially at risk for certain respiratory and systematic diseases.
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