Health Hazard Evaluation Report: HETA-87-281-1854: Litteken Dental Clinic; Ardmore, Oklahoma

Details

• Personal Author:
  Gunter, Bobby J.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Description:
  In response to a request from the management department, an investigation was made of possible hazardous exposures to mercury (7439976) and nitrous-oxide (10024972) at the Litteken Dental Clinic (SIC-8021) in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Air samples were taken while the dentist and three assistants were using and while the dentist and one assistant used mercury amalgams. Nitrous oxide was in use for over 3 hours. The air sampling results revealed a range of nitrous- oxide concentrations in the room air from 30 to 220 parts per million (ppm) with a mean concentration of 105ppm. Mercury concentrations ranged from nondetectable to 0.009ppm, well below the evaluation criteria of 0.05ppm. The nitrous-oxide scavenging ventilation system in operation was somewhat effective
  
  nitrous- oxide levels were far lower than have been recorded in other dental clinics. The author concludes that a health hazard from excessive exposures to nitrous oxide exists, but mercury levels pose no health hazard in this clinic. The author recommends that the ventilation system should be adjusted each time nitrous oxide is going to be used. Routine maintenance checks should be performed on all anesthetic and suction equipment. The installation of a large fan on the roof of the building is suggested. Patients, particularly children, should be watched so that they do not play with the face mask during the administration of nitrous oxide.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Anesthesia Dental Offices Health Personnel Metals, Heavy Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Anesthetics Dental Operatories Dentistry Hazard-Confirmed Hazard-Unconfirmed Health-care-personnel Heavy-metals HETA-87-281-1854 Mercury NIOSH-Author NIOSH-Health-Hazard-Evaluation NIOSH-Technical-Assistance-Report Nitrous Oxide Office Of Dentist OSHA Region 6 Waste Anesthetic Gas

  More +
• Series:
  Health Hazard Evaluation Reports (HHE)
• Subseries:
  Health Evaluation and Technical Assistance (HETA)
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHHETA872811854
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Oklahoma ; OSHA Region 6
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Division:
  DSHEFS - Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  10 pdf pages
• Contributor:
  DiGiacomo, Marile F.
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:00178057
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB88-203849
• Citation:
  Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, HETA 87-281-1854, 1987 Dec ; :1-10
• CAS Registry Number:
  Mercury (CAS RN 7439-97-6) ; Nitrous oxide (CAS RN 10024-97-2)
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1988
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  8021 - Offices and clinics of dentists - (SIC)
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c117e8bec67ab5896fb4612fe9705055ecab17f0dde3b30d4a5437aed7c200bff22893e9c90d7f963fc02c1cf7238751da8b1f9e0a3c54014f1eb180ddc7b925
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/172039/cdc_172039_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 149.92 KB ]