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Fine Aerosols and Perceived Risk of COVID-19 among Dental Practitioners: A Cross Sectional Survey

Jayashri Prabakar

Introduction: The coronavirus disease is caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and declared to be transmitted from human-to-human. This transmission takes place through multiple means like the aerosols, fomites and droplets. In dentistry, dental ultrasonic devices and high-speed hand pieces, mainly when used with water, commonly produce the fine aerosols. These aerosol particles can remain suspended in air then land on adjacent surfaces within the dental office, which includes the personal protection equipment. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to make a survey on Dental practitioners concerning the perceived risks of aerosol contamination in COVID-19 times and their attitude toward modifications of treatment protocols to reduce this risk.

Objective: The objective of the present study was to make a survey on Dental practitioners concerning the perceived risks of aerosol contamination in COVID-19 times and their attitude toward modifications of treatment protocols to reduce this risk.

Materials and methods: The present cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among dental practitioners. The survey was conducted on an online forum using google form. The questionnaire included questions related to fine aerosols and perceived risks of aerosol contamination in COVID-19 along with sociodemographic factors such as age, gender and year of study. Descriptive statistics were expressed by means of frequency and percentage. Chi Square test was used to find the association between the variables. P value less than 0.05 were considered to be statistically significant.

Results: From our survey we can witness about 60% of the participants had increased fear of perceived risk of COVID-19 among dental practitioners. Considering the categories more at risk in the dental settings, the majority 50% of respondents thought that the dentists were undergoing highest risks, while only the 19% of respondents considered patients to be the ones more at risk; and about 30% of respondents believed risks to be equally divided between patients and dental professionals.

Conclusion: From the survey we may conclude that the survey demonstrated that COVID-19 had a great impact on dental practitioners; it increased not only fear of aerosol contamination during dental treatments but also influenced the fear of close contacts.