Title : Effect of a novel anti-splash mask on preventing aerosol in dental practice
Abstract:
Objective:
To evaluate the effect of a new anti-splash mask on preventing aerosol pollution in dental clinics.
Methods:
The aerosol distribution characteristics in different types of splash operations were analyzed in dental clinics at first. Different splash operations were composed of cavity preparation, tooth preparation, interproximal enamel reduction, and supragingival scaling. Then tooth preparation on isolated teeth was simulated in dental phantom head. According to whether to use the anti-splash mask, experiments were divided into the experimental group and the control group. The droplets of aerosol at multiple time points were sampled before, during, and after dental procedures. The effectiveness of preventing aerosol pollution by the novel anti-splash mask was analyzed.
Results:
The aerosol concentrations caused by diverse splash operations in the clinics increased respectively (P<0.05). The aerosol concentration resulting from tooth preparation was the highest (P<0.05). To simulate dental treatment, tooth preparation was performed on isolated teeth in dental phantom head. It was found that the aerosol concentration was significantly decreased when using anti-splash masks (P<0.05).
Conclusion:
Diverse dental splash procedures initiated a large amount of aerosol respectively. The use of novel antisplash mask in the process of dental diagnosis and treatment can reduce the aerosol concentration in dental clinics, which have a positive effect on preventing the spread of COVID-19.
Audience take away:
• Introduce a new anti-splash mask on preventing aerosol pollution in dental clinics developed by our research group, which has been authorized the national invention patent.
• Analyse the effectiveness of preventing aerosol pollution by the novel anti-splash mask.
• Provide ideas and suggestions to further improve the performance of the anti-splash mask according to the requirement on the field of vision.
