Towards an Enhanced Occupational Health and Safety Model for Dental Professionals

Abstract

The objective of this study was to develop an occupational health and safety model for dental professionals based on level of awareness and degree of compliance. A total of 226 dental professionals that includes Dentist, Dental Laboratory Technician and Dental hygienist from the 3 selected economic growth centres of the Philippines, namely NCR, Cebu, and Davao, participated in the study. Survey forms to measure the respondents’ level of awareness and degree of compliance to the Occupational health and safety standards (OHSS) key areas were given to the respondents during dental conventions. Likert scale revealed 4.28 awareness score that means the respondents are moderately aware with OHSS standard and a 3.84 compliance score which means compliant to some extent only. Correlation result of 0.56 revealed a positive relationship between respondents’ awareness and compliance, hence and increase in awareness warrant an increase to compliance. P value of 0.000 indicate significant difference between respondents’ level of awareness and compliance. Regression equation revealed that 77.7% of the total OHSS practices is congruent of awareness and compliance. The remaining 22.3% may be due to other factors not included in this study. Awareness and compliance plays a vital role for the realization of a total occupational health and safety for dental professionals. A campaign to increase awareness of dental professionals to OHSS is a must to increase their degree of compliance.