Document QXwLmxmpkbODMwKORyDYQm2r8

8 Industrial Hygiene Newsletter Volume 8, Number 2 DENTISTRY IN INDUSTRIAL HEALTH PROGRAMS' Dr, R. I. Humphrey, in a talk before the Illinois Public Health Association in April of 1947, spoke on the importance of the almost unrecognized part in the profit-making role that oral health plays in our industrial plants, namely, that a healthy oral cavity has a direct construc tive influence on in dustrial production. On the otherhand, the contrary is true in the case of oral infection. "An aching tooth in an individual can become a company's toothache affecting not only the well being of the individual, but jeopardising the safety of fellow employees. Pain of dental origin causes loss of sleep, fatigue, and mental distraction. Acci dents follow; industrial accidents are always costly. "Infected teeth can mean a staggering loss of man-hours. There is authority for the statement that at least 25 percent of employee absenteeism from nonoccupational illness is directly traceable to the mouth. Continued study and analy sis of absenteeism wilt some day enable a greater degree of accuracy in trans lating the cost of lost man-hours in terms of dollars and cents to industry. This problem could be solved through the war-born philosophy of labor-manage ment groups with the cooperation of the medical and dental professions." Many industrial oral health programs are in operation and are providing ex cellent service for the workers yet "they are minute when compared to the vast field yet untogched. Approximately only 1 in 10 industrial plants offers any type of dental attention today. "There is no altruistic approach to the problem of dental health in industry. By and large, management is chiefly in terested, and will continue to be inter ested, only in terms of what the health of the worker means to the company in profit or loss statements. "Occupational hazards, directly trace able to and responsible for oral diseases, are readily understood by management, and therefore are likely to result in ac tive oral health programs. "There have been unfortunate experi ences involving unethical and poorly qualified dentists, resulting in expense to the company, loss of good will and respect. And in some rare instances, antiquated state laws governing industrial dental practice have acted to limit or re tard the advancement of oral health for worker . "Labor unions -- ever watchful over the general well-being of their members, have demonstrated an eager willingness to cooperate with management, with professional organ izations, national. State, and local groups. Usually they favor complete dental service for themselves and their families with a minimum outlay of expenditure. "* * * There can be no fixed uniform program which can be wrapped in cellophane or Christmas paper and laid at the door of industry * * . There are many factors entering into a decision of the most desirable program. Different conditions prevail in different industries, "Occupational hazards must be taken into consideration. Wage levels, avail able community medical and dental re sources, size of the industrial plant and the number of employees--all of these factors must be considered in develop ing an oral health program. "Out of the welter of existing indus trial dental services has come a definite trend. Some term it preventive dent istry. Briefly, it consists of examina tion--pre-placementorpre-employment, periodic examination--dental health ed ucation--referral--fotlow-up and emer gency treatment when necessary." Dr. Humphrey emphasized the use of an examination service utilizing roent genological methods as patterned after the Chicago Dental Society mobile serv ice for industries. This plan for exam ination and X-ray could be utilized by several of the smaller plants employing less than 100 persons or as many as 500 employees. "No dental service plan can be suc cessful without health education of employees. Employee publication or house organ furnishes an excellent ave nue of approach in this res]ct. Infor mation carried on these pages, including authoritative articles, is frequently taken into the homes of employees and read by other members of the family," * A complete print of this address by Dr. Humph rey appears in volume 4, no. 2 of IlAaf'r Aw In Indutliiet Ityfiienc. Department of Public Health, Division ot Industrial E yniene, 1800 V.", Fillmore St,. Chicago 12, Illinois. COMMENTS ON 1947 MAC VALVES By Lawrence T. Fairhall Over a period of years the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists has been concerned with threshold limits and has at various times released tables of such values. Accord ing to the constitution these values are subject to annual revision. Some ad verse criticism has recently been made of the values set up by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. Also the fact that these values were published in the August. 1947 Industrial Hygiene NewtUtter has been interpreted as implying that the values are those of the Industrial Hy giene Division, U. S. Public Health Service, in spite of the following state ment at the head of the list: "The fol lowing maximum allowable concentra tion values were a part of the report submitted by the Committee on Thresh old Limits and accepted by the Ameri ca.: Conference of Governmental Indus trial Hygienists at the 1947" meeting. These values are revised annually." Moreover, inference has been drawn that the changed values were not made on the basis of scientific evidence but presumably according to the whims of the committee. Concerning this, one of the committee members writes as follows: "Some 35 of the 1946 values were changed. Of these, three were in creased and presumably these changes are satisfactory to our critics. Of the remaining 32, 7 were reduced from values of 10,000 p. p. m. and less down to 1,000 in accordance with the basic idea, which has been proposed several (Continued on page 9) SPNY 000320