Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39729055›Full record

ArticleJournal of the American Dental Association (1939)2025

Nonmalignant respiratory disease mortality among dentists in the United States from 1979 through 2018.

Ethan D Fechter-Leggett, Ruth D Lipman, Suzanne E Tomasi, Randall J Nett, Jean M Cox-Ganser

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the American Dental Association (1939), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Ethan D Fechter-Leggett
Ruth D Lipman
Suzanne E Tomasi
Randall J Nett
Jean M Cox-Ganser

Funding

Intramural CDC HHS CC999999
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDentists can be exposed to dust and nanoparticles from teeth, dental composites, and metal alloys generated during dental procedures, and exposure to dust can cause respiratory diseases, including pulmonary fibrosis. The authors describe mortality from nonmalignant respiratory diseases (NMRDs) among dentists in the United States.

methodsThe authors submitted information on US dentists who died from 1979 through 2018 to a centralized US death records database to obtain underlying causes of death. Decedent data that met records-matching criteria were analyzed using the Life Table Analysis System software (National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health) to calculate proportionate mortality ratios (PMRs), indirectly standardized for age, sex, race, and 5-year calendar period with 95% CIs, for NMRD and a group of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth and Tenth Revision codes approximating idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

resultsAmong 21,928 dentist decedents with complete race information, 1,583 deaths (7.2%) resulted from NMRD. Proportionate mortality for dentist decedents was significantly lower than the general population for NMRD overall (PMR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.62 to 0.69), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (PMR, 0.44; 95% CI, 0.41 to 0.48), and pneumonia (PMR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.67 to 0.81) but significantly higher than the general population for the pulmonary fibrosis group (PMR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.37 to 1.80).

conclusionsDentists had decreased proportionate mortality for most NMRD and increased proportionate mortality for underlying causes of death associated with pulmonary fibrosis. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: Existing engineering controls that reduce inhalational exposures during dental procedures might be inadequate. Improved characterization of these exposures could help inform more effective engineering controls.

Indexed as

DentistsOccupational DiseasesOccupational ExposureRespiratory Tract DiseasesAdultAgedCause of DeathFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedUnited StatesDentistsidiopathic pulmonary fibrosisinhalation exposureoccupational exposureoccupational healthpulmonary fibrosis

Identifiers

PMID39729055
PMCPMC11907762

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.