Occupational exposure and hepatitis B vaccination statues in dental students in Central Saudi Arabia

OBJECTIVE: To assess the nature of occupational exposures occurring to students and to assess the rate of reporting of incidents. METHODS: A self-administrated questionnaire was circulated to third, fourth and final year undergraduate dental students in Dental College of King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia from April 2004 to May 2004. The questionnaire was consisted of 4 domains: personal details, hepatitis B vaccination, occupational exposures and reporting of the exposure incident. RESULTS: Significantly more incidents occurred among final year students than third year students. Through the students there was no correlation between ages, gender, and dominate hand; however, more exposures occurred in female students. A significant decrease in exposures (p