title: Occupational exposures and infection control among students in Nigerian dental schools.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the incidence of occupational exposures to body fluids and infection control practices among students in Nigerian dental schools.
  
  
  METHODS
  A self-administered questionnaire survey of 112 students from three Nigerian dental schools.
  
  
  RESULTS
  57 (50.9%) of the students had experienced one or more occupational exposures in the previous six months. There was no statistically significant association between year group and reported number of exposures (p > 0,05). There was also no statistically significant association between sex and reported number of exposures (p > 0.05). 50.7% of the exposures were percutaneous injuries, 26.1% splatter of saliva and 23.2% splatter of aerosol. Percutaneous injuries were most frequently caused by scalers (42.9%) and needlesticks (37.1%) Most incidents occurred during scaling (37.7%),use of dental handpiece (21.7%) and cleaning of instruments (18.8%). 96.4% of the exposures were not reported. Only 36.6% of the students were immunized against Hepatitis B. None of those immunized had been post-screened for seroconversion. The routine use of gloves, masks and protective eyewear was reported by 87.5%, 65.5% and 17% of students respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates a high rate of exposure to body fluids and low compliance with infection control guidelines. There is a need for interventions to improve safe work practices, hepatitis B vaccination, HBV post-immunization serology and use of protective barriers. Also appropriate policies and procedures are needed for reporting and managing exposures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Dental Health, College of Medicine, University of Lagos.
authors.forename: I L
authors.initials: IL
authors.lastname: Utomi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017848:Blood-Borne Pathogens; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D019552:Infection Control, Dental / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013335:Students, Dental / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires