Assessment of occupational exposure to fine particulate matter in dental prosthesis laboratories in Kocaeli, Turkey
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Assessment of occupational exposure to fine particulate matter in dental prosthesis laboratories in Kocaeli, Turkey Serap Arsal Yıldırım
&
Beyhan Pekey
&
Hakan Pekey
Received: 25 March 2020 / Accepted: 17 September 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Abstract Dental prosthesis laboratories (DPLs) are among the workplaces where predominantly manual production takes place. In such working environments, during the manual manufacturing process, which involves fine smoothing and polishing of dental prostheses, fine particulate matter is released into the ambient air. In this study, the particulate matter (PM) concentrations and elemental content of the fine particles in the working ambient air were identified in six DPLs in Kocaeli, Turkey. PM2.5 mass concentrations, measured in all the DPLs, ranged between 80.8 and 1645 μg/m3 (mean 414 ± 406). As a result of the analyses performed with an ICP-MS device (Perkin Elmer Elan®DRC-e), trace elements of Be, Cd, Hg, and, notably, Co, Cr, Mo, and Ni were found. The researchers calculated the excess lifetime cancer risks and total hazard indexes. The average total cancer risk for all the DPLs was 8 × 10−3, which is higher than the acceptable limit of 1.0 × 10−6,
S. Arsal Yıldırım (*) Vocational School of Kocaeli Health Sciences, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] B. Pekey : H. Pekey Department of Environmental Engineering, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey
B. Pekey e-mail: [email protected] H. Pekey e-mail: [email protected]
and the total hazard index was 187, which is greater than the acceptable limit of 1.0. Considering these high-level risks, the study concluded that there is a need for new production methods, and strict application of occupational health and safety measures, to reduce the fine particle exposure of the workers in the laboratories. In addition, there are prescribed limit values for particulate matter only for respirable particles in working environments. The establishment of limit values, especially for PM2.5 concentrations, is important for the protection of the health of the employees. Keywords Fine particulate matter . Health risk assessment . Occupational exposure . Workplace environment
Introduction Dental prosthesis laboratories (DPLs) are places where prostheses are made to replace lost teeth. Manual production is intensive, and many occupational respiratory system diseases occur due to the materials that are used (Hu et al. 2006; Kuehn 2018; Malhotra et al. 2013). Particulate matter spreads through the working environment in these laboratories when abrasion and polishing processes are carried out (Hu et al. 2006; Kim et al. 2002; Nayebzadeh et al. 1999; Van Landuyt et al. 2012). Particulate matter impacts the health of workers by first accumulating in their respiratory systems, then passing into their circulatory systems, based on particle sizes (AHA 2010; Akkurt 2014; Bernstein et al. 2008; Sahu
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et al. 2014). The World Cancer Reports, published in 2014 and 2019 by the
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