Dental Office Ventilation For Infection Control
In dentistry, ventilation matters more than you may initially think in terms of infection control training during this COVID climate. It’s not covered too much, so the ADA has kindly briefed us all on how best to deal with this area of infection control of a dental office in these times.
- Properly maintain ventilation systems by changing filters regularly and ensuring vents aren’t obstructed.
- Possess ventilation systems that move air from a clean area to a contaminated one.
- Consult a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) professional to investigate increasing filtration efficiency without significant deviation from the designed airflow.
- Consider purchasing a portable HEPA (high-efficiency particular air) filter.
- Ensure DHCP is not positioned between the unit and the patient’s mouth.
- Consider the use of upper-room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UVGI).
- Ensure you have placed supplemental ventilation in the correct location. Place it as close to the patient as you can, but in an area where it’s not going to draw air across the face of the dental healthcare personnel.
- Place patients in different rooms whenever possible. Have at least six feet of space between patient chairs. Lay down physical barriers between the chairs. Operatories should be oriented parallel to the direction of airflow if at all possible.
- Think about patient volume in order to really allow safe care. Consider waiting at least fifteen minutes after the completion of dental treatment and departure before beginning the cleaning and disinfecting process.
While this overview should help you out a lot, perhaps the full video is worth looking at. We suggest that you watch the video in its entirety so that you can become fully aware of the finer details and become a lot more educated on the matter.
As these guidelines are updated regularly also consider reviewing the latest updates at ADA.org/virus