Dental Office Ventilation Practices for COVID-19

Hospitals and other inpatient facilities have long upheld ventilation policies, but it is a new practice in the dental world.

In this video, the ADA covers ways that your dental practice can control the spread of aerosols in your office and exam rooms.

1. Properly maintain ventilation in your dental practice by regularly cleaning and changing filters.
2. Assure that vents are unobstructed and not blocked by stacks of boxes or dental supplies.
3. Optimally, your ventilation system should move air from clean areas to contaminated areas and assure that all HVAC services and modifications are done with that clean to contaminated flow in mind.
4. For all upgrades, consider hiring an HVAC professional to install antiviral and antimicrobial techniques.
5. Use the CDC Infection Environmental Control guidelines to calculate air exchange time.
6. Consider installing HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters. They can filter out 99.97% of particulates that are 0.3 micrometres in diameter.
7. When purchasing HEPA filters, make sure they are authentic HEPA and not labeled HEPA-like.
8. Position HEPA filtering units so they are pointed away from the patient’s mouth.
9. Consider having a professional install upper room ultraviolet germicidal irradiation (UV GI), positioned near the ventilation in the upper part of your dental patient exam rooms. The UV light technology can inactivate microorganisms and further enhance your ventilation system.

We suggest that you watch the full video to ensure that you understand the recommendations outlined above and their full implications.

For more assistance contact your local Hayes representative to help ensure that your staff and practice are compliant with CDC Guidlines and Infection Control Training

As these guidelines are updated regularly also consider reviewing the latest updates at ADA.org/virus