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In Situ Measurement of Airborne Particle Concentration in a Real Dental Office: Implications for Disease Transmission
Aerosols generated during dental procedures are one of the most significant routes for infection transmission and are particularly relevant now in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of an indoor air purifier on dental aerosol dispersion in dental offices....
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8431666/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34501544 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178955 |
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author | Razavi, Maryam Butt, Zahid Ahmad Chen, Helen Tan, Zhongchao |
author_facet | Razavi, Maryam Butt, Zahid Ahmad Chen, Helen Tan, Zhongchao |
author_sort | Razavi, Maryam |
collection | PubMed |
description | Aerosols generated during dental procedures are one of the most significant routes for infection transmission and are particularly relevant now in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of an indoor air purifier on dental aerosol dispersion in dental offices. The spread and removal of aerosol particles generated from a specific dental operation in a dental office are quantified for a single dental activity in the area near the generation and corner of the office. The effects of the air purifier, door condition, and particle sizes on the spread and removal of particles were investigated. The results show that, in the worst-case scenario, it takes 95 min for 0.5-μm particles to settle and that it takes a shorter time for the larger particles. The air purifier expedited the removal time at least 6.3 times faster than the case with no air purifier in the generation zone. Our results also indicate that particles may be transported from the source to the rest of the room even when the particle concentrations in the generation zone dropped back to the background. Therefore, it is inaccurate to conclude that indoor purifiers help reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Dental offices still need other methods to reduce the transmission of viruses. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8431666 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-84316662021-09-11 In Situ Measurement of Airborne Particle Concentration in a Real Dental Office: Implications for Disease Transmission Razavi, Maryam Butt, Zahid Ahmad Chen, Helen Tan, Zhongchao Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Aerosols generated during dental procedures are one of the most significant routes for infection transmission and are particularly relevant now in the context of COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of an indoor air purifier on dental aerosol dispersion in dental offices. The spread and removal of aerosol particles generated from a specific dental operation in a dental office are quantified for a single dental activity in the area near the generation and corner of the office. The effects of the air purifier, door condition, and particle sizes on the spread and removal of particles were investigated. The results show that, in the worst-case scenario, it takes 95 min for 0.5-μm particles to settle and that it takes a shorter time for the larger particles. The air purifier expedited the removal time at least 6.3 times faster than the case with no air purifier in the generation zone. Our results also indicate that particles may be transported from the source to the rest of the room even when the particle concentrations in the generation zone dropped back to the background. Therefore, it is inaccurate to conclude that indoor purifiers help reduce the transmission of COVID-19. Dental offices still need other methods to reduce the transmission of viruses. MDPI 2021-08-25 /pmc/articles/PMC8431666/ /pubmed/34501544 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178955 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Article Razavi, Maryam Butt, Zahid Ahmad Chen, Helen Tan, Zhongchao In Situ Measurement of Airborne Particle Concentration in a Real Dental Office: Implications for Disease Transmission |
title | In Situ Measurement of Airborne Particle Concentration in a Real Dental Office: Implications for Disease Transmission |
title_full | In Situ Measurement of Airborne Particle Concentration in a Real Dental Office: Implications for Disease Transmission |
title_fullStr | In Situ Measurement of Airborne Particle Concentration in a Real Dental Office: Implications for Disease Transmission |
title_full_unstemmed | In Situ Measurement of Airborne Particle Concentration in a Real Dental Office: Implications for Disease Transmission |
title_short | In Situ Measurement of Airborne Particle Concentration in a Real Dental Office: Implications for Disease Transmission |
title_sort | in situ measurement of airborne particle concentration in a real dental office: implications for disease transmission |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8431666/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34501544 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18178955 |
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