Dentist’s Hub Bub - A Cross-Sectional Study on Impact of Long-Term Occupational Noise Exposure on Hearing Potential among Dental Practitioners

BACKGROUND Dentists are liable to loss of hearing during dental treatment due to noise exposure. A study was carried out to determine whether or not dental professionals from the Department of Periodontics, Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics and Prosthodontics ought to cause hearing decrement with the aid of using continual excessive frequency sounds created by dental equipments. METHODS This study involved 38 dentists from the specialities of Periodontics, Conservative Dentistry and Endodontics, and Prosthodontics who were subjected to noise during operating for 6 hours per day and 38 medical professionals who were matched served as a control group. Three audiometric examinations included an otoscopic exam; tympanometry and pure tone audiometry were performed by the participants. RESULTS According to the data, 15.8 % of dentists and 2.6 % of the control group suffered from loss of hearing. In the pure tone audiometry test, there was no substantial difference between the two groups; however, the qualitative analysis showed that the dentists' group had a greater percentage of hearing loss than their control counterparts. In the pure tone audiometry test, there was a statistically significant difference between the specialists from periodontics, conservative dentistry and endodontics, and prosthodontics (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS Noise from dental clinics has been shown to cause hearing problems, with the left ear being affected when compared to that of the right; again, these problems aren't serious. Dentists were common among noise-induced hearing impairment and periodontic specialists than conservative dentistry and endodontics, and prosthodontic specialists than the control group. KEY WORDS Dental Professionals, Long Term Exposure, Noise-Induced Hearing Loss, Pure Tone Audiometry.