Working in a dentistry lab when pregnant

[Conline]

Hi
So I'm new here. I'm 14+2 , work in dentistry and that includes working in a dental lab. Does anyone know if this is safe? And what my rights are to say I don't want to work in there whilst pregnant. It involves mixing plaster wet and dry, getting up to the eyeballs in it, on feet all day, bad back, using a grinding machine and vibrating plate which goes right through you, there are smells and fumes but I know the manager would say "well you have a mask to wear" being in there really puts you under a lot of pressure to get as much work done as poss. It's absolutely shattering! Any advice welcome. My midwife said she couldn't write me a letter to get me out of it but my GP could if I asked. Gets under my skin knowing my bosses wouldn't like there partners working in there if they were pregnant...

Have you looked at the materials data sheets for what you're using? Plaster IMO wouldn't be a problem but the acrylics might be.

Lots of pregnant women have to stand for long periods. I think that's not unique to working in a dental lab. Likewise the grinder and vibrator. Your employer should have risk assessments for all of these in pregnancy.

I'm assuming techs have some sort of union (like nurses have the BADN) and that you're GDC registered? May be a good place to go to for advice.

My hygienist is pregnant (38 weeks) and she's just soldiering on as hundreds and thousands of pregnant women are. Not sure what you are after as long as risk assessments have been done correctly??

Sorry i think you are being a little precious. You can quite safely be pregnant and use plaster ( wear disposable gloves but you should do anyway) and use a vibrating plate.

Ok thanks for replies, my first pregnancy and had some complications from the start and a bit of a worrier so just wondered people's thoughts are. I quite enjoy being in there so I'm happy to carry on so long as it's safe. And yeah I'm very thorough with all PPE

No, you're not being precious! You need, and are legally entitled to a full risk assessment of your work environment.

As a scientist who used to be lab based, this is very important. I used to work with all sorts of stuff that was potentially genotoxic and unpleasant .

I've no experience of dental labs so I don't know how your lab compares to my old one, but I used to do these risk assessments and our lab was so hazardous that anyone pregnant was put on 'writing papers/grants/data crunching' duty forthwith. We used radioisotopes, all sorts of stuff that interacted with DNA, acrylamide, etc.

You need to have a risk assessment.

Thanks Skiptonlass, yeah it made me giggle about being precious haha. I'm a right grafter in there! If only I could paint the actual picture of a full days solid graft in the lab where "I" work. I'm just dreading mentioning a risk assessment to my boss. Yeah there are fumes and sprays and that many clinicians equals to ALOT of lab work to do on your own. You're not part of a team in there. Anyway I'm going to mention it tomorrow

conline don't forget your union if you are in one. Do you have indemnity? They could help as well. It's a statutory responsibility to do the risk assessments so if your boss isn't doing them... what else is he not doing that the GDC might be interested in?
In other news, what do you think of flexi dentures?

Quite a world of differnece between plaster and vibrating plates and acrylamide and radioisotopes ( though i used both of the latter through three pregnancies)