Knowledge and awareness of handling methyl methacrylate monomer among undergraduate dental students

Methyl methacrylate (MMA) monomer is one of the most widely used chemical in the dental laboratory and handled frequently by dental students. This study was done to assess the knowledge, awareness and handling practices of MMA among the undergraduate dental students of the Faculty of Dentistry, Melaka Manipal Medical College and Manipal College of Dental Sciences, Manipal of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal.

The study sample comprised of 273 dental students. A validated questionnaire with questions pertaining to the knowledge about MMA, facilities of the lab where MMA is handled, personal protective aid to be used while manipulating MMA and any history of allergic experience was distributed among the students. Frequency of response to individual question in the questionnaire was analysed.

81.2% of the students who participated in the study were aware of the allergic potential of MMA and 89.8% were aware of its highly inflammable nature however, 92.7% were not aware of its neurotoxicity. 64% of the participants were aware of the ventilation system in the lab. 60.4% were aware of the proper storage method and 30.7% of proper disposal technique. More than half of the subjects used safety goggles (62.6%) and gloves (53.4%); but less than half of them used lab coat (21.9%) and mask (29.6%) while handling MMA and 71% of them changed the gloves every day.

Most of the students were aware of the facilities available in their laboratory, protective equipment required while handling and proper storage method of MMA. However, dental students need to enhance their knowledge of Methyl Methacrylate (MMA) in terms of its route of exposure, local and systemic side effects and proper disposal methods.