Abstract:
For people working in dental prosthesis laboratories (DPL), metal alloys and methylmethacrylate-based monomers and polymers used in the laboratory can pose occupational risks. These risks can cause occupational health problems and toxic effects on human health. This study purposes of researching the effects of occupational exposure because of dental prosthesis manufacturing operations on variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphisms in IL-1Ra and IL-4 genes. 29 DPL workers, the experimental group, were given a questionnaire, including the symptoms that might arise due to occupational exposure, and their responses were compared with 30 participants as a control group. Genotype distributions and allele frequencies for IL-1Ra intron 2 (rs2234663) and IL-4 intron 3 (rs79071878) VNTR polymorphisms were analyzed using the PCR technique. Both IL-1Ra intron 2 and IL-4 intron 3 polymorphisms identified from the experimental and control groups were not statistically significantly different (p >.05). However, runny nose, burning throat, dyspnea and dryness and rash on the skin were significantly different when DPL workers were compared with the control group according to logistic regression analysis (p <.05). No statistical difference was found in other phenotypic characters. However, due to the limited sample size, our results need to be confirmed in large-scale studies.
