Bacterial Contamination of Dental Aerosol with and Without Use of an Acrylic Dome in a Patient in COVID-19 Pandemic

María Cecilia Venegas Arques; Carolina Pia Rojas García; Yuri Andrés Cataldo Saavedra; Paula Fernanda Jiménez Gomez; Victoria Inés Arqués Vergara & Benjamín Martinez

Summary

In the current PANDEMIC for COVID19, the clinical world has been forced to reinforce the use of protection in healthcare, due to the high degree of contagion and virulence of this virus. In dentistry, due to the production of aerosols, clinical care has been suspended to prevent infection. The objective of this research is to determine the amount of bacterial contamination, generated by the use of high-speed micromotor aerosol, carried out by dentists at the Hospital de La Florida, Santiago, Chile. The study included 10 patients per box, with 2 samples per patient, in total 40 culture plates, 20 Control, 20 Test and 3 Environmental. The culture medium was kept for 10 minutes, located in the front of the operator and the patient's chest. Simulation of the operation with a turbine was performed, without absolute isolation, with and without the use of an acrylic dome, placed on a healthy patient. The samples were analyzed macroscopically, incubated at 37ºC in an atmosphere of oxygen for 24 hours and Carbon dioxide after 48 hours. 43 plates were positive, noting a non-significant difference (p = 0.753) between the two groups in the bib samples, with an average difference of 56.76 CFU. In the plates of the operator's forehead, an average of 8.1 CFU in the box without dome and 3.9 CFU in the box with dome, finding a statistically significant difference (p = 0.0391). The environmental plates 28.33 UFC in the Box with the dome, 29 UFC in the Control Box and the Box without dome 46.66 UFC. When verifying that the acrylic dome effectively contains aerosols, it should be used as a biosafety standard to protect both dental equipment and patients in times of pandemic against COVID-19.

KEY WORDS: aerosols, covid-19, pandemic, humans, hospitals, dentists.

How to cite this article

VENEGAS, A. M. C.; ROJAS, G. C. P.; CATALDO, S. Y. A.; JIMÉNEZ, G. P. F.; ARQUÉS, V. V. I. & MARTINEZ, B. Bacterial contamination of dental aerosol with and withou use of an acrylic dome in a patient in COVID-19 pandemic. Int. J. Odontostomat., 15(1):14-22, 2021.