Assessing the Risk of Wearing Short Sleeves in Dental Clinics

In the dental clinic, Bio-aerosols are an important consideration for infection control and occupational health. Dental clinicians are exposed to aerosols and splatters which contain infective agents such as bacteria, virus and fungal organisms. Hence, there is a definite risk of infection with transmittable agents as the position is very close from the patient’s mouth. Main entry points of infection for a dentist include abrasions on the skin. This surveillance study was conducted to evaluate the risk of wearing short sleeves in dental clinics. Sterilisedaluminium foil of dimension 21x28 cm was wrapped on the forearm of the 20 operating dentists and left for 30 minutes. Then it was removed, and with the help of a moistened swab the aerosol sediment from a fixed area is taken and plated on Brain Heart Infusion(BHI) agar plates. The plates were incubated and were checked for the bacterial colonies and enumerated. It was observed that, out of 20 samples collected, It was observed that, out of 20 samples collected, Streptococcus sp. were invariably seen. Coagulase negative Staphylococci were predominantly seen in 10 samples, and in the remaining 10 samples Lactobacillus sp. were predominantly seen. In some of the samples bacterial load was very high. It is the indication of the risk that the short sleeve has in dental practice. Here the demonstration of aerosol is identified by the deposition of bacterial species on the skin, and we should in mind that the aerosol may carry infectious virus also.