The first paper from the Newcastle Dental Aerosols Research Group has now been published in the Journal of Oral Rehabilitation.
This paper reports our methodology for examining the distribution of aerosols and splatter produced by dental procedures which uses a fluorescent dye. We are the first group to apply both digital image analysis and spectrofluorometric analysis to the study of dental aerosols.
We found that most contamination from dental procedures was distributed in the first 1 – 1.5 metres from the procedure, but for some procedures (particularly ultrasonic scaling), contamination could be detected some distance away.
The findings in this paper tell us where any “water-spray” from dental procedures go, but further work will need to show how much biological material is carried in this water-spray before we can better understand the risk of cross-infection posed by dental aerosols.
The research was funded by the School of Dental Sciences, Newcastle University and the British Endodontic Society.