KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS ABOUT AEROSOL SPREAD IN DENTAL CLINICS AMONG DENTAL STUDENTS

Abstract

Aerosols are solid or liquid particles suspended in air with less than 50 µm in diameter and airborne particles which are larger than 50 µm size are called as splatter. The creation of airborne material during dental systems is evident to the dental specialist, the dental group and the patient. An airborne haze of particulate issue and liquid regularly obvious during dental methodology. Aerosols are produced with the use of high speed handpieces, ultrasonic scalers and air – water syringing. After the procedure is finished , airborne bacteria can remain suspended in air and settle some time later. Dental treatment in general significantly increased the level of bacteria air contamination and ultrasonic scaling produced three times contamination than operative dental treatment. Modern dental clinics are closed systems with air conditioning which needs regular monitoring for adequate ventilation to remove aerosols.
Bacterial aerosols can be minimised by using air filters and ultraviolet (UV) light.
The aim was to find out the awareness and knowledge on aerosol spread in dental clinics among students in saveetha dental college.
The survey was conducted among 100 dental students in saveetha dental college, in the year of March 2020 to assess the knowledge and awareness about aerosol spread in dental clinics.
A questionnaire based survey was done to create knowledge about aerosol spread in dental clinics. A total questionnaire of 10 questions were collected by google forms and the data was analysed by SPSS software.The results were collected and analysed using bar graphs.
Chi square test was carried out to associate between gender or age and the various responses obtained in the questionnaire.
In this study, almost 49.1% of the respondents were aware of the aerosol transmission.Almost 60% of the respondents are aware of how long aerosols can stay in air.61.4% of the respondents used to wear gloves and masks always in the clinic.In figure 10, it shows association between gender and awareness on contagious aerosol transmission. Chi square test p value was 0.516(p value>0.05). Hence it is statistically not significant.
This study concludes that almost half of the respondents are only aware of aerosol spread in dental clinics in saveetha dental college.