Occupational noise-induced hearing loss among dental professionals.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the persistent high-frequency noise produced by dental equipment could cause hearing impairment among the dental professionals in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

METHOD AND MATERIALS: This cross-sectional study was conducted to evaluate the hearing capacity of 90 randomly selected dental practitioners from different specialties working in the UAE. The participants were approached in their workplace and their hearing capacity was evaluated using the pure tone audiometer.

RESULTS: Twenty dental practitioners suffered from hearing impairment, which constitutes 22.2% of the studied sample. At high frequencies, left ears were more affected than right ears, but this was not statistically significant. There was a direct relationship between working hours per week and the hearing capacity, but this did not reach a statistically significant level. The lowest hearing capacity was detected in males at a significantly lower value compared to females.

CONCLUSIONS: Positive correlation was found between years of experience and reduced hearing capacity among dental practitioners. In addition, males had a significantly higher median count of severely affected hearing frequencies compared to females. Online pure tone audiometric testing is an easy, cost-effective tool that can be used to self-assess the hearing capacity of dental professionals, and it is recommended to perform this test annually.