Due to the recent coronavirus outbreak, maintaining clean air quality in our dental offices has become one of our primary concerns. To achieve healthy air quality for your dental office, you will need a central air conditioning system, high suction, and reduced usage of aerosols and splatter in dentistry procedures.
If you want to maintain the healthy air quality in your dental office, perform scheduled maintenance of your heating and air-conditioning system as per the manufacturer’s recommendations. Make sure to use only high-quality filters and frequently replace them to lower the chances of viruses, bacteria, and other airborne particles from circulating.
By installing exhaust fans, you can create negative pressure in the room, thus reducing the amount of aerosol present and improving the room’s air quality.
Air scrubbers work by sanitizing the air circulation in the room using UV light. Some air scrubber models can eliminate almost 99% of surface microbes, such as black mold, and nearly 90% of airborne microorganisms.
An ERV system allows fresh air into the room to make it less cold, less hot, or less humid. Keep in mind that an energy recovery ventilator system does not clean or detox the air. Instead, it just brings in more air into the room. If you would like to transfer cleaner air, you will have to use an air scrubber along with the ERV system.
It is recommended to place a stand-alone air purification machine close to patients while you carry out aerosol-producing procedures so that aerosols generated are easily removed. While choosing an independent air purification system, make sure to check the filtration rate, the quality of the filters used in it, durability, airflow capacity, and sound level.
You can also use high-velocity evacuation systems to control the presence of aerosols in your office air. Specific models can achieve an almost 95% reduction in aerosol particles in the air.
N95 masks have a high filtration rate when compared to other types of masks, like surgical masks. They can filter out at least 95% of particles in the air, including aerosols, and reduce your exposure to them.
At Smiles on Hickman, we maintain high infection control standards to preserve clean air quality at our dental office and maintain all our team members, dentists, and patients' health.
