Occupational health practices among dental care professionals before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a substantial burden on dental care professionals. While dentistry is known as one of the most exposed and high-risk professions, dental care professionals are indeed at even greater risk. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Work (Reading, Mass.) Mass.), 2021-01, Vol.68 (4), p.993-1000
Main Authors: Banaee, Sean, Claiborne, Denise M., Akpinar-Elci, Muge
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Dental care
Dental hygiene
Dentistry
Disease transmission
Gloves
Health behavior
Hygiene
Occupational health
Pandemics
Personal protective equipment
Protective equipment
Psychological stress
Respirators
Risk
Viral diseases
Work life balance
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Summary:BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a substantial burden on dental care professionals. While dentistry is known as one of the most exposed and high-risk professions, dental care professionals are indeed at even greater risk. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess knowledge, attitudes, occupational health practices, personal protective equipment usage, and mental stressors during COVID-19 pandemic among dental care professionals. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted among dental care professionals who were subscribers to a dental hygiene journal using a self-administered online survey (n = 1047 respondents). Cross-tabulations were performed to determine differences in the responses to the statements related to different domains. RESULTS: COVID-19 impacted the healthy work-life balance (p <  0.001) and caused sleeping difficulty among the respondents (p <  0.001). Moreover, a lower response on changing respirators and gloves for each patient compared with before viral pandemic was observed (p <  0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Ongoing training on infection control, occupational health practices, and PPE usage can prevent the transmission of COVID-19 among dental care professionals and the public. Lack of adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) is a burden for applying occupational health practices in dental clinics and present a risk to the public. COVID-19 may contribute to developing psychological stress and disrupt healthy work-life balance among dental professionals.
ISSN:1051-9815
1875-9270
DOI:10.3233/WOR-205319