Air disinfection procedures in the dental office during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Authors: Monika Tysiąc-Miśta , Agnieszka Dubiel , Karolina Brzoza , Martyna Burek , Karolina Pałkiewicz

Abstracts

EN

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) generated a huge pressure on health care systems worldwide and exposed their lack of preparation for a major health crisis. In the times of a respiratory disease pandemic, members of the dental profession, due to having a direct contact with the patients’ oral cavity, body fluids and airborne pathogens, are exposed to a great occupational hazard of becoming infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The authors carried out a systematic literature search using the main online databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, MEDLINE, UpToDate, Embase, and Web of Science) with the following keywords: “COVID-19,” “2019-nCoV,” “coronavirus,” “SARS-CoV-2,” “dental COVID-19,” “dentistry COVID-19,” “occupational hazards dentistry,” “ventilation,” “air disinfection,” “airborne transmission,” “hydrogen peroxide disinfection,” “UV disinfection,” “ozone disinfection,” “plasma disinfection,” and “TiO₂ disinfection.” They included publications focused on COVID-19 features, occupational hazards for dental staff during COVID-19 pandemic, and methods of air disinfection. They found that due to the work environment conditions, if appropriate measures of infection control are not being implemented, dental offices and dental staff can become a dangerous source of COVID-19 transmission. That is why the work safety protocols in dentistry have to be revised and additional methods of decontamination implemented. The authors specifically advise on the utilization of wildly accepted methods like ultraviolet germicidal irradiation with additional disinfection systems, which have not been introduced in dentistry yet, like vaporized hydrogen peroxide, non-thermal plasma and air filters with photocatalytic disinfection properties. Due to its toxicity, ozone is not the first-choice method for air decontamination of enclosed clinical settings.

Keywords

EN

occupational hazards; dentistry; airborne transmission; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; air disinfection

• Publisher: Instytut Medycyny Pracy im. prof. dra Jerzego Nofera w Łodzi
• Journal: Medycyna Pracy
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 72
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 39-48

Dates

published

2021

Contributors

author

Monika Tysiąc-Miśta

• Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland (Faculty of Medical Sciences in Zabrze, Department of Dental Materials, Chair of Prosthetics and Dental Materials)

author

Agnieszka Dubiel

• Medical University of Silesia, Bytom, Poland (Academic Center of Dentistry and Specialist Medicine)

author

Karolina Brzoza

• Medical University of Silesia, Bytom, Poland (Academic Center of Dentistry and Specialist Medicine)

author

Martyna Burek

• Medical University of Silesia, Bytom, Poland (Academic Center of Dentistry and Specialist Medicine)

author

Karolina Pałkiewicz

• Medical University of Silesia, Bytom, Poland (Academic Center of Dentistry and Specialist Medicine)

Identifiers

DOI

10.13075/mp.5893.01005

Biblioteka Nauki

2082615