Review of the Level of Awareness? Towards Occupational Hazards among Orthodontic Staff at Selected Dental Clinics, Saudi Arabia

Background Notwithstanding the highlighting on patient safety in dental clinics, Number of hours a dentists works directly affects his health, especially the strained posture the dentist is in despite the fact that treating a patient, which causes anxiety on the spine and limbs and is a major cause for musculoskeletal problems that dentists face. Based on evidence, Majority of the dentists had stress while working on patients. Various clinical procedures such as unanticipated emergency situations, anesthetization of patients, if the patient is not satisfied with the treatment, and unskillful treatment planning contribute to development of situations, which lead to high blood pressure, fatigue, tiredness, and increased stress. Objective To assess the level of awareness towards occupational hazards among orthodontic staff at the selected dental clinics, Saudi Arabia. Method A cross-sectional survey was conducted at five dental clinics, Saudi Arabia. Forty Two items of self-administered questionnaire was provided to 250 orthodontic staff in the research setting based on their area of their specialties to assess the level of awareness towards occupational hazards among orthodontic staff at the selected dental clinics, Saudi Arabia. Results This study finding showed that awareness towards Occupational Hazards among some orthodontic staff at dental clinics was variable. The majority (87.6 %) of the orthodontic staff had a high level of awareness towards Occupational Hazards in relation to Hazards due to Nitrous Oxide Gas. Furthermore, orthodontic staff had a high level of awareness towards Occupational Hazards in relation to Infection (85.6 %). On the other hand (66.4 %) of the orthodontic staff had a lowest level of awareness towards Occupational Hazards in relation to Stress. Although, concerning the Intermittent Level of Awareness the highest level was awareness towards Occupational Hazards in Occupational in the item Nervousness and anxiety after Work (79.2 %). Conclusions The current study results revealed that there were high levels of awareness among the orthodontic staff towards occupational hazards within the study setting.