Table 1

Mechanism of Reported Percutaneous Injuries Among Dental Professionals, Washington State, 1995–2001.


Job Category
Activity
Dental Assistant N (%)
Dental Hygienist N (%)
Dentist N (%)

Total Mechanism
667 (100.0%)
161 (100.0)
66 (100.0)
Cleaning Instrument
160 (24.0)
23 (14.3)
-
Changing carpule
125 (18.7)
13 (8.1)
5 (7.6)
Recapping
118 (17.7)
29 (18.0)
13 (19.7)
Cape fell off while removing needle from syrenge
57 (8.5)
6 (3,7)
4 (6.1)
Disposal related
36 (5.4)
3 (1.9)
2 (3.0)
Unknown
34 (5.1)
5 (3.1)
1 (1.5)
Dr hit
29 (4.3)
-
-
Collision
29 (4.3)
4 (2.5)
1 (1.5)
Preparing
23 (3.4)
6 (3.7)
1 (1.5)
Local anesthetic injection
21 (3.1)
39 (24.2)
22 (33.3)
Device left on table
11 (1.6)
1 (0.6)
-
Injecting other than a local
9 (1.3)
8 (5.0)
2 (3.0)
Unexpected jerk of patient
6 (0.9)
13 (8.1)
3 (4.5)
Dental cleaning
6 (0.9)
8 (5.0)
1 (1.5)
Surgery
3 (0.4)
-
11 (16.7)
Blood Draw
-
3 (1.9)


Shah et al. BMC Public Health 2006 6:269   doi:10.1186/1471-2458-6-269