Knowledge, attitude, and practices of dental health professionals on procedural noise exposure: A preliminary study

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is one of the common occupational hazards among some medical professionals. Dental health professionals are among the professionals exposed to loud noise due to their frequent use of dental instruments. The awareness of the hazards of noise exposure and its consequences is not well-established among dental professionals. There is a need to understand this hazard to implement hearing conservation programs among dental professionals. Hence, using a cross-sectional study design, the current study was designed to identify dental professional knowledge, attitude, and practices on procedural noise exposure. Methods: We developed a knowledge, attitude, and practice questionnaire and validated it on a small group of dentists and audiologists. Later, we distributed it to 128 dental health professionals and evaluated responses on a five-point rating scale. Results: The knowledge section received the highest percentage rating of 53% (agree) and 29.1% (strongly agree) (total 82.1%); the attitude section 37.5% agreed, and 20.5% strongly agreed (total 58%), and the practice section 48% agreed, and 22% strongly agree (total 70%). Conclusions: Most dental professionals know about dental procedural noise exposure and its consequences. Only 60% of participants followed practices that avoided hearing risks. Overall, there is a strong need to implement a hearing conservation program, especially the practice aspect. Multicentric studies can gather global prospects and guide dentists on healthy practices.