Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire Might Be a Reliable Tool for Occupational Physicians in the Health Surveillance of the Dental Healthcare – A Romanian Survey

Abstract

Occupational skin diseases are under-reported in many countries, especially in the Eastern Europe, including Romania. Improper healthcare legislation and regulations in the field of health and safety at work might be a few causes of developing occupational skin diseases, but also the lack of standardised diagnostic criteria and evaluation tools are common in these countries.

Dental staff is exposed to a wide range of occupational hazards, many of them being haptens, which could cause occupational skin diseases. The most common occupational skin diseases in contact dermatitis. Without a reliable diagnostic tool in place, usually the dental staff (as many other professions) overlook and underestimate the presence of occupational skin diseases, which can lead to unproper prevention, chronic skin lesions, disability and loose of efficiency and productivity.

Periodic medical examination is mandatory in many countries all over the globe, comprising in a minimum set of investigations, including clinical examination, questionnaires, blood tests and additional procedures, tailored on the occupation, workplace, industrial sector and potential exposure.

It is important to standardise the employees’ periodical medical evaluation using reliable tools oriented to the skin pathology. The Nordic Occupational Skin Questionnaire (NOSQ) might represent one of these tools which might be useful for a comprehensive evaluation of the potential occupational skin diseases.

NOSQ was created by a group of experts from the Nordic countries and it is meant to assess the presence and clinical features of occupational skin diseases in the workplace.