Wear of teeth due to occupational exposure to airborne olivine dust.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To clarify whether high tooth wear of employees in a mining industry that extracts the mineral olivine could be associated with airborne dust exposure in their working environment.

METHOD:

The cumulative exposure to airborne mineral dust for the workers in the company was calculated on the basis of their period of employment multiplied by the airborne olivine-dust concentrations, which have been monitored continuously during the past 20 years for all divisions of the company. After invitation, 85% of the employees (n = 191) were examined clinically and their dentitions were photographed and duplicated in plaster casts. Four clinicians, working independently, examined the sets of casts/photographs for tooth wear and ranked these from most to least. Two groups of employees were compared with regard to tooth wear, i.e. the 30% with the highest (case) and the lowest (control) estimated dust exposure levels. Tooth wear in the case and control groups was compared using a non-parametric test based on rankings (Mann-Whitney test).

RESULTS:

Tooth wear differed significantly between the workers in the low and the high mineral dust exposure groups (p < 0.001). The differences were also apparent within three age subsets, although statistical significance was reached only in the 34-44 years subset (p = 0.002). Considerable individual variation was noted within the three exposure groups.

CONCLUSION:

Workers with high exposure to airborne olivine dust may contract considerable tooth wear.

• Authors: A Jokstad, F R Von Der Fehr, G R Løvlie, T Myran
• Journal: Acta odontologica Scandinavica (Acta Odontol Scand) Vol. 63 Issue 5 Pg. 294-9 (Oct 2005) ISSN: 0001-6357 [Print] England
• PMID: 16419435 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Air Pollutants, Occupational
• Dust
• Iron Compounds
• Magnesium Compounds
• Silicates
• olivine

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Air Pollutants, Occupational (toxicity)
• Case-Control Studies
• Chi-Square Distribution
• Dust
• Female
• Humans
• Iron Compounds (toxicity)
• Magnesium Compounds (toxicity)
• Male
• Metallurgy
• Middle Aged
• Mining
• Models, Dental
• Occupational Exposure (adverse effects)
• Photography, Dental
• Silicates (toxicity)
• Statistics, Nonparametric
• Tooth Abrasion (etiology)