Awareness and Practice Of Wearing Protective Eye Wear Among Dental Students.

Introduction: Unique protective eyewear such as goggles, face masks including safety glasses is extremely effective while worn and correctly designed to avoid the impact on the eyes of foreign materials, pollutants, hot objects, infectious agents, radiation and they potentially minimize the extent of an impact. Aim: The study aimed to assess the knowledge and practice among dental students about wearing safety eye protection devices. Materials and Method: A cross-sectional analysis with a self-designed questionnaire was performed, with Ten questions distributed amongst 100 dental students. The questionnaire examined information in dental applications about wearing protective eye wear, their protective effects against high-speed missiles, protective effects against high-speed aerosols, and explanations for not wearing eye wear. We reported and evaluated the responses. Results: 15% of the respondents were aware of wearing protective eye wear in dental applications. 14% wore protective eye wear in dental applications 13% were aware of the protective effects of eye wear against high speed projectiles in dental applications, 11% were aware of protective effects of eye wear against high speed aerosols in dental applications and 11% said wearing eye wear affected comfort, 13% said it affected clarity of vision and 76% said fogging of vision as the main reasons for not wearing protective eye wear. Conclusion: There is limited awareness amongst dental students over the use of protective eye wear in dental applications. The study findings indicate that there are many potentially modifiable factors that could contribute to increased use of protective eye wear among students, and indicate that teachers need to provide ongoing positive input that promotes the continued use of PPE among dental students