2. Infection Risk in Dental Practice
Biological risk is an intrinsic threat in dental practice, to which patients, doctors, assistants, hygienists, and all other staff may be exposed.
Medical activities carried out in dental practice must always refer to procedures for the assessment and prevention of risks posed by the potential transmission of an infectious biological agent.
However, the procedures adopted routinely to date have not been specifically designed for the prevention of pathogens transmissible by aerosol. Therefore, there are currently no specific guidelines for the protection of dentists against SARS-CoV-2 [3].
Due to the transmission route, in addition to measures that prevent diffusion of the infection from a patient to another person or medical tools and equipment (cross-infection), it is advisable to add further airborne and contact precautions to the routine standard hygienic procedures in order to reduce the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
In a dental practice, the prevention, control, and reduction of infection transmission risk commonly takes place through:The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, masks, visors, goggles, dental uniform, and surgical gown and shoes (see section on PPEs below).
A set of decontamination, disinfection, and sterilization procedures aimed at inactivating, destroying, or removing pathogens from any surface or instruments [12].
Prevention of SARS-CoV-2 infection must consider its spread through air and the size of droplets (<5 µm or >5 µm). The disease prevention measures should also take into account the potential ability of the virus to contaminate surfaces [4].
Although certain data are not available, the WHO reports that virus persistence on surfaces can vary from a few hours to a few days in relation to environmental parameters and the contaminated surface [13]. An environment with low relative humidity is reported to decrease the persistence of SARS-CoV-2 [13].
The SARS-CoV-2 virus is sensitive to ultraviolet rays and heat, and can be inactivated at a temperature of 56 °C for 30 min, as well as by lipid solvents such as ether, 75% ethanol, and disinfectants containing chlorine, peracetic acid, and chloroform. It is not sensitive to chlorhexidine [13].
The aim of this article is to focus on hygienic procedures within the dental practice during a coronavirus pandemic.