title: Patient reactions to some electromagnetic fields from dental chair and unit: a pilot study.
abstract: The aim of this study was to investigate whether experienced changes of symptoms could be correlated with electromagnetic fields from dental equipment. Five patients, who had reported an intensification of symptoms during exposure to electromagnetic fields, participated in this doubleblind study. In two sittings with an interval of two months the patients were seated for one hour in a dental chair with fixed unit. For blinding reasons, the chair, unit, and ceiling lights were stripped or unlit. The magnetic fields from the room, chair, and unit had been measured both with and without electric supply. The difference in magnetic field intensity was, at some points of measurement, very large. Neither the patient nor the investigator knew when the electric supply was on or off. During the first sitting, the supply was off the entire hour; during the second sitting, the supply was on the entire hour. All five patients experienced intermittent exposures during the first one hour sitting. Those four participating in the second test experienced the same intermittent exposures as in the first sitting. This pilot study failed to demonstrate a correlation between exposure from some magnetic fields of the dental chair and unit under operating control and experienced hypersensitivity reactions.
authors.affiliation: Dept of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Central Hospital, Västerås, Sweden.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bertoft
mesh_terms: D003748:Dental Equipment; D003770:Dental Offices; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004574:Electromagnetic Fields / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects