Dentistry at work: exhaustors in dental offices: a study on its need

Abstract

Frequently, Dental Surgeons relate health damages by inhaling impure air in their dental offices. The goal of this study was to investigate the need of installation of dental exhaustors. Forty Dental Surgeons in the city of Rio Branco, Acre, Brazil, were interviewed, evaluating their knowledge about exhausters in dentistry and also the reason why this equipment is not usually used in dental offices as a tool for protecting the worker’s health. This research demonstrated that the Dental Surgeons consider exhauster in dentistry a very important measure, but have never been given information about it. This asks for legal measures, including biosafety courses, due to the high incidence of impure particles in the air of the dental offices.