Aerosols Contamination in the Dental Practice Following Everyday Procedures: An Observational Study

Objective: The purpose of the present observational study was to evaluate the bacterial load in the air following various dental procedures.

Methods: Air contamination following seven aerosol-generating dental procedures was assessed. The air volume was sampled by a wet cyclone collector for 10min during 10 sessions of the following procedures: air-polishing, ultrasonic instrumentation, manual instrumentation, rubber cup polishing, cavity preparation with a 1:5 red contra-angle, cavity preparation with turbine and Low Volume Evacuator (LVE), and cavity preparation with turbine and High Volume Evacuator (HVE). Contamination of the sampled solution was determined using ATP (Adenosine TriPhosphate) quantification of the viable bacterial count, and compared to baseline measurements.

Results: The baseline air contamination was 1.45 (0.85–2.04) CFUs/L of air. The highest increase in air contamination was observed after the use of a turbine with LVE, with an average of 7.38 (95% CI 3.87–10.89) CFUs/L of air (p<0.01). The use of the turbine with HVE and the use of the red hand-piece resulted in non-significant increases in bacterial counts compared to baseline (2.98 [1.34–4.63] and 2.70 [0.18–4.22] CFUs/L of air respectively). The application of air polishing, ultrasonic instrumentation, hand instrumentation and rubber cups did not result in a higher bacterial count than the baseline.

Conclusion: Routine professional oral hygiene procedures do not increase air contamination. However, cavity excavation with LVE creates a significantly higher bacterial count in the air.