610
Views
18
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Nanoparticle concentrations and composition in a dental office and dental laboratory: A pilot study on the influence of working procedures

, , , &
Pages 441-447 | Published online: 18 Apr 2018
 

ABSTRACT

During material treatment in dentistry particles of different size are released in the air. To examine the degree of particle exposure, air scanning to dental employees was performed by the Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer. The size, shape and chemical composition of particles collected with a low-pressure impactor were determined by scanning electronic microscopy and X-ray dispersive analysis. The average concentrations of nanoparticles during working periods in a clean dental laboratory (45,000–56,000 particles/cm3), in an unclean dental laboratory (28,000–74,000 particles/cm3), and in a dental office (21,000–50,000 particles/cm3), were significantly higher compared to average concentrations during nonworking periods in the clean dental laboratory (11,000–24,000 particles/cm3), unclean laboratory (14,000–40,000 particles/cm3), and dental office (13,000–26,000 particles/cm3). Peak concentration of nanoparticles in work-intensive periods were found significantly higher (up to 773,000 particles/cm3), compared to the non-working periods (147,000 particles/cm3) and work-less intensive periods (365,000 particles/cm3). The highest mass concentration value ranged from 0.055–0.166 mg/m3. X-ray dispersive analysis confirmed the presence of carbon, potassium, oxygen, iron, aluminum, zinc, silicon, and phosphorus as integral elements of dental restorative materials in form of nanoparticle clusters, all smaller than 100 nm. We concluded that dental employees are exposed to nanoparticles in their working environment and are therefore potentially at risk for certain respiratory and systematic diseases.

Additional information

Funding

Javna Agencija za Raziskovalno Dejavnost RS [P3-074].

Log in via your institution

Log in to Taylor & Francis Online

PDF download + Online access

  • 48 hours access to article PDF & online version
  • Article PDF can be downloaded
  • Article PDF can be printed
USD 61.00 Add to cart

Issue Purchase

  • 30 days online access to complete issue
  • Article PDFs can be downloaded
  • Article PDFs can be printed
USD 148.00 Add to cart

* Local tax will be added as applicable

Related Research

People also read lists articles that other readers of this article have read.

Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine.

Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.
Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab.