Tae-Sung Jeong

THE ASSESSMENT OF NOISE IN THE PEDIATRIC DENTAL CLINICS

치과의사는 감염, 알레르기, 시력장애 등 다양한 직업적 위험에 노출되어 있으며, 그 중에서도 비교적 최근 들어 새롭게 제기된 문제가 청력손상이다. 치과 진료실에서 발생하는 소음이 작업장 소음 기준을 초과한다는 조사 결과가 발표된 바 있고, 특히 소아치과 의사는 각종 치과 소음에 더하여 어린이의 울음소리라는 부가적 소음원에도 일상적으로 노출되고 있다. 본 연구는 소아치과 의사에게 영향을 미칠 수 있는 소음 환경에 대해 조사하고, 이에 따른 청력 손상 가능성을 고찰해 볼 목적으로 시행되었다. 휴대용 소음계를 이용하여, 각종 치과용 기구, 어린이의 울음소리, 양자가 동시에 발생할 때의 소음 크기를 각각 측정하고, 소아치과 의사가 소음 환경에 노출되는 시간을 설문을 통해 조사하였다. 이 결과를 National Institute for Safety and Health(NIOSH) 및 Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)의 소음 역치 기준, CRA News letter의 청력 손상을 유발하는 소음 기준과 각각 비교하였다. 그 결과, 소아치과 의사가 노출된 소음 환경은, 강도와 노출 시간을 고려했을 때 허용된 작업장 소음 기준을 초과하며, 어린이의 울음소리는 한 번의 노출로도 영구적 청력 손상을 야기할 수 있는 수준으로 나타났다. 따라서 일반 치과의사와 비교하여 소아치과 의사는 직업적 청력 손상의 위험성이 더 높으며, 이를 최소화하기 위한 적극적인 대책이 필요하다는 결론을 내릴 수 있었다. 【Dental professionals are exposed to various occupational risks, among which the problem of hearing damage has been newly revealed. There have been some researches reporting that noise occurring in a dental office exceeds the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) Standards. Especially, the pediatric dentists are repeatedly exposed to an additional noise source called the crying sound of children in addition to all kinds of noises from dental instruments. Accordingly, this study intended to investigate the noise environment likely to affect pediatric dentists and to examine the possibility of resultant hearing damages. The level of noise was measured respectively, when various dental instruments (ultrasonic scaler, high-speed handpiece, low-speed handpiece) are operated, when children are crying, and when both occasions take place simultaneously (from the distance of 30 cm) with a portable noise meter. And the daily duration of pediatric dentists exposed to the noise environment was surveyed. The results were compared with the standard value of noise threshold of NIOSH, OSHA, and that of hearing damage of CRA News letter respectively. Considering the intensity and exposure time, the noise environment of pediatric dentists exceeds the allowable noise threshold values. Even only one exposure to crying child was likely to lead to permanent hearing damage. Comparatively, pediatric dentists have a higher risk for occupational hearing damages, and some active measures are thought highly desirable to minimize it.】

A MORPHOMETRIC STUDY ON THE PREFORMED STAINLESS STEEL CRORWNS OF SOME BRANDS

Whenever pediatric dentists choose the preformed stainless steel crowns for restoration of primary molars, we usually prefer the crown forms that most fit to the abutment teeth. Despite some previous reports on significant ethnic difference in the size and shape of tooth crowns in primary dentition, only the imported products have been available to date, which might show some discrepancy with tooth anatomy of Korean. However, a domestic product of preformed stainless steel crown has been marketed recently that is expected to show more accurate fit to the primary tooth of Korean. To investigate the morphological characteristics of primary molars of Korean children, their mesiodistal and buccolingual diameters from the dental casts of 263 children in Pusan and Kyungsangnamdo province were measured by digital calipers. The measured data were compared with those of the three types of preformed stainless steel crowns(3M ESPE Stainless Steel Primary Molar Crown, Kids Crown, Sankin Anatom Primary Crown) by statistical processes with regression analysis. The results were as follows: 1. In every primary molar crown of three brands, the bucco-lingual width to mesio-distal width ratio (MD-BL ratio) showed higher values compared with those of natural teeth. 2. While the products of 3M ESPE and Shinhung showed similar features, those of Sankin showed some difference from both, and these difference was more marked in mandibular primary molars. 3. The nearer is the mesio-distal width of the crown to the average, the better was the adaptation of the preformed crown, and the reverse was true. 4. The teeth which revealed more discrepancy between preformed crown and natural tooth were upper and lower first primary molars.

ACCURACY OF CONE-BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY IN PREDICTING THE DIAMETER OF UNERUPTED TEETH

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy and reproducibility of measuring the size of unerupted permanent tooth via cone beam computed tomography(CBCT). Ten children were scanned with dental CBCT, and 3-dimensional reconstruction of the dentitions were generated CBCT. Mesio-distal dimension and buccolingual dimension of the teeth were made directly on the model with a high-precision digitalcaliper and on the CBCT by using three-dimensional dental imaging software. Reliability and accuracy were assessed by using intraclass correlation and paired -tests. (