Aerosol exposure of staff during dental treatments: a model study

Autor: Florentina Melzow, Sarah Mertens, Hristo Todorov, David A. Groneberg, Sebastian Paris, Alexander Gerber
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2022
Předmět:
Zdroj: BMC Oral Health, Vol 22, Iss 1, Pp 1-6 (2022)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1472-6831
DOI: 10.1186/s12903-022-02155-9
Popis: Abstract Background Due to exposure to potentially infectious aerosols during treatments, the dental personnel is considered being at high risk for aerosol transmitted diseases like COVID-19. The aim of this study was to evaluate aerosol exposure during different dental treatments as well as the efficacy of dental suction to reduce aerosol spreading. Methods Dental powder-jet (PJ; Air-Flow®), a water-cooled dental handpiece with a diamond bur (HP) and water-cooled ultrasonic scaling (US) were used in a simulation head, mounted on a dental unit in various treatment settings. The influence of the use of a small saliva ejector (SE) and high-volume suction (HVS) was evaluated. As a proxy of aerosols, air-born particles (PM10) were detected using a Laser Spectrometer in 30 cm distance from the mouth. As control, background particle counts (BC) were measured before and after experiments. Results With only SE, integrated aerosol levels [median (Q25/Q75) µg/m3 s] for PJ [91,246 (58,213/118,386) µg/m3 s, p 0.05] and US [6558 (6002/7066) µg/m3 s; p > 0.05] did not increase aerosol levels significantly. The use of HVS significantly decreased aerosol exposure for PJ [37,170 (29,634/51,719) µg/m3 s; p
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