Dental Care and Education Facing Highly Transmissible SARS-CoV-2 Variants: Prospective Biosafety Setting: Prospective, Single-Arm, Single-Center Study

Andrej Thurzo, Wanda Urbanová, Iveta Waczulíková, Veronika Kurilová, Bela Mriňáková, Helena Kosnáčová, Branislav Gális, Ivan Varga, Marek Matajs and Bohuslav Novák
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Andrej Thurzo: Department of Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, 81250 Bratislava, Slovakia
Wanda Urbanová: Department of Orthodontics and Cleft Anomalies, Dental Clinic 3rd Medical Faculty Charles University, Faculty Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady, 10034 Prague, Czech Republic
Iveta Waczulíková: Department of Nuclear Physics and Biophysics, Faculty of Mathematics, Physics and Informatics, Comenius University, Mlynska dolina F1, 84248 Bratislava, Slovakia
Veronika Kurilová: Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Ilkovicova 3, 81219 Bratislava, Slovakia
Bela Mriňáková: 1st Department of Oncology, Medical Faculty, Comenius University, St. Elisabeth Cancer Institute, 81250 Bratislava, Slovakia
Helena Kosnáčová: Department of Simulation and Virtual Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, Sasinkova 4, 81272 Bratislava, Slovakia
Branislav Gális: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Medical Faculty, Comenius University, University Hospital Bratislava, 81499 Bratislava, Slovakia
Ivan Varga: Institute of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, 81372 Bratislava, Slovakia
Marek Matajs: Department of Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, 81250 Bratislava, Slovakia
Bohuslav Novák: Department of Stomatology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Comenius University in Bratislava, 81250 Bratislava, Slovakia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-25

Abstract: With the arrival of the highly transmissible Omicron variants (BA.4 and BA.5), dentistry faces another seasonal challenge to preserve the biosafety of dental care and education. With the aim of protecting patients, students, teachers and healthcare professionals, this paper introduces a prospective sustainable biosafety setting for everyday dental care and education. The setting developed by dental clinicians, epidemiologists, and teachers of dentistry consists of a combination of modern technologies focused on the air-borne part of the viral pathway. The introduced biosafety setting has been clinically evaluated after 18 months of application in the real clinical environment. The protocol has three fundamental pillars: (1) UVC air disinfection; (2) air saturation with certified virucidal essences with nebulizing diffusers; (3) complementary solutions including telehealth and 3D printing. A pseudonymous online smart form was used as the evaluation method. The protocol operates on the premise that everybody is a hypothetical asymptomatic carrier. The results of a clinical evaluation of 115 patient feedbacks imply that no virus transmission from patient to patient or from doctor to nurse was observed or reported using this protocol, and vice versa, although nine patients retrospectively admitted that the clinic visit is likely to be infectious. Despite these promising results, a larger clinical sample and exposition to the current mutated strains are needed for reliable conclusions about protocol virucidal efficiency in current dental environments.

Keywords: dental education; biosafety; dentistry; orthodontics; sustainability; COVID-19; infection; prevention; teledentistry; UVC; virucidal oil dispersion (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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