Investigation of indoor air volatile organic compounds concentration levels in dental settings and some related methodological issues.

The assessment of indoor air volatile organic compounds (VOCs) concentration levels in dental settings has a big health relevance for the potentially massive occupational exposure to a lot of diverse contaminants. The comparison of the VOCs profile relative to indoor conditions and to the corresponding outdoor concentrations, as well as the discovery of possible correlations between specific dental activities and VOCs concentration variations are of utmost importance for offering a reliable characterization of risk for dentists and dental staff health. In this study we review the most relevant environmental studies addressing the VOCs contamination level in dental settings. We analyze the methodological problems this kind of study must face and we report preliminary results of an indoor air investigation, carried out at dental hospital in Italy, the "Ospedale odontoiatrico George Eastman" of Rome, in which general lines for the analysis of dental settings in environmental terms are sketched. The aim of this work is to identify the kind of problems a typical enclosed (non-industrial) environment indoor air investigation has to cope with by means of the analysis of a case study.