OBJECTIVE To investigate the current status and characteristics of occupational exposure in a stomatological hospital and explore the influencing factors for occupational exposure among dentists so as to propose preventive and control measures for occupational exposure in the stomatological hospital.

METHODS A retrospective study was carried out to analyze 180 incidents of occupational exposures in Qingdao Stomatological Hospital Affiliated to Qingdao University from 2020 to 2024, involving the departments, names, genders, age, average annual workload, average annual outpatient days, exposure links, instruments leading to exposures, exposure sources, occupational type and professional titles. The incidence of occupational exposure was compared among the subjects with different occupations, professional titles and department affiliations. Logistic regression analysis was performed for the influencing factors for the occupational exposures among the dentists.

RESULTS The incidence of occupational exposures was 7.52%(180/2395) within the 5 years, and the sharp instrument injury (99.40%) was the predominant exposure approach. The department of oral and maxillofacial surgery, department of restorative dentisty and department of prosthodontics were the departments at high risk of occupational exposures. There was significant difference in the incidence of occupational exposures among the staff and the doctors with different professional titles(P < 0.05). The subjects for whom the exposure source was positive or failed to be tracked accounted for 56.11%. The professional title (OR=0.328) was a protective factor for the occupational exposure among the doctors, and the high-risk department (OR=4.912) was a risk factor for the occupational exposure (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS The occupational exposures to the stomatology department staff are characterized by high prevalence, monotonous type, concentrated distribution of populations and uncontrollable occupational exposures. It is necessary to complete the preoperative screening of infectious diseases, strengthen the awareness of prevention, standardize the technical procedures and boost the innovation of auxiliary instruments so as to reduce the incidence of occupational exposures.