How Much Noise is an Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon Exposed to?

Publication date: Available online 14 March 2018
Source:Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery
Author(s): Esha Kulkarni, Yasmine Abdallah, Dennis Hanseman, Deepak G. Krishnan
IntroductionA common concern among Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons (OMSs) is the progressive loss of hearing throughout their careers. Although this has not been critically studied, there may be several factors that may contribute to this detriment, including drills, saws, suction, music and other sounds within the closed operating environment. Our study observed the intensity of noise in the operating theatres and in clinical settings during the use of drills, saws, surgical handpieces, and other tools.Materials and MethodsIn the cross-sectional study sound intensities were measured in decibels using a CEM DT-8851 industrial high accuracy digital sound noise level meter data logger in the clinic and operating rooms. The device measured the intensities of sound during the entire duration of procedures. The recorded drilling periods were extracted from the data and t-tests were run to determine if a statistically significant difference existed between the non-drilling and drilling periods. In addition, the duration of time was measured during which intensity was greater than or equal to 85 decibels (dB).Results50 procedures were recorded in the clinical setting and in the OR. The results of this study proved that OMSs were indeed exposed to sound intensities in decibels that exceeded OSHA guidelines but, these exposures occurred less than 1% of the time. It was discovered that the maximum recorded intensities, in both the clinic and OR recordings were during a non-drilling period and this was attributed to the suction.ConclusionOSHA guidelines were exceeded in the clinical setting and OR setting, but the results were not significant. We believe this is a very promising study for future endeavors. We found that we exceed the threshold set by OSHA at points during surgical procedures in the clinic and operating room. This prompts future studies focusing recordings when suction is used and longitudinal studies on a sample of individual OMSs.



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