Accidents cutting and piercing in a School of Dentistry

Objective: To assess the occurrence and characteristics of the reported accidents with perforating-cutting materials involving students, staff and faculty members, between 2000 and 2005 at the Dental Clinic of the School of Dentistry of the University of S o Paulo. Methods: A survey of the records of reported occurrences of accidents was made, considering the material that caused the accident, time of day of the occurrence, the discipline in which it occurred, and clinical conduct adopted in the emergency room. When available, the results of the laboratory exams of the accident victim and the source patient were also taken into consideration. Results: The data assessed showed there were 40 accident reports, of which 39 reports involved undergraduate students and 1 staff member. The instrument that caused most accidents was the anesthetic needle and largest number of these accidents occurred in the Surgery discipline. However, 50% of the records did not present complete information, which prevented a more accurate epidemiological assessment. Conclusion: The data obtained led to the conclusion that the rate of accidents is extremely low considering the number of clinical attendances provided in the period and raises the hypothesis that many cases were not reported.