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The Samskruti Way!

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Importance of indoor air quality for dentistry!

Found this on the smart living blog. 

Indoor Air Quality Assurance has been in the spotlight and already gained awareness especially among medical practitioners and healthcare providers in Malaysia. Dr. Yogesh Sharma, BDS (UM) is a dental surgeon in an established  dental specialist center in Kuala Lumpur. He shared about his opinion regarding  this matter in his article:

IMPORTANCE OF GOOD INDOOR AIR QUALITY FOR DENTISTRY.

Indoor Air Quality Assurance (IAQA) isn’t a new field in the modern science world today. The quality of air we breathe influences our health tremendously. Having a major impact on us, it has no longer become a luxury but a necessity. We assume the air around us is free from infectious disease. Why? The answer is because we simply choose to ignore them. What the eyes doesn’t see, the brain does not believe. Only when we are up against diseases such as H1N1, bird flu, SARS, and even to the feared tuberculosis, we start taking precautions and protecting ourselves from the environment we are leaving in.

As we know it, there are many diseases related to the quality of air that we breathe. On an average, we breathe about 7 to 8 liters of air per minute, 166 gallons of air in an hour, 24 000 breaths in 24 hours… in TOTAL giving us around 12,000 liters of inhaled air per day! Can you imagine in that one day, how much bacteria, fungus, and viruses we could and would have been exposed to? That’s just one day, now multiply it to the number of days you have lived. That’s about the amount of subtle damage we have gradually suffered over the years, not wondering why we kept falling sick, suffering from chronic sinusitis, headaches, unresolved coughs, allergies and lethargy. Well that is actually your body telling you how much damage you are undergoing. 

In a dental environment, indoor air quality is very crucial. Having a clean disinfected air is important in terms of creating a healthy environment free from contaminants. This is important to prevent post operative complications after dental treatment. Contaminated air in the clinic could introduced bacteria into open wounds during surgical procedures such as Wisdom tooth removal, implant placing, minor surgical maneuvers, deep scaling and others. The quality of the air inside a dental clinic could determine the outcome of many dental procedures, in terms of success rate of the treatment. It it’s very important to work in a healthy environment, for both healthcare workers and patients. As a dental practitioner, we confront hundreds of patient everyday from different countries, lifestyles and sociodemographic background. We are exposed to all sorts of infections brought in by the patients whom we are totally unaware of. All we have to depend on is a very good history taking and our 3 ply masks to protect us against any air borne diseases. Even after which, we are still unsure of the health status of these patients walking into our clinic.

Studies indicate that about 70 % of the patients treated by healthcare professionals aren’t aware of their underlying medical conditions. That puts us in a very vulnerable state; not knowing how safe the air around us that we are breathing is. The spread of infectious air borne disease in a closed air-conditioned environment such as a dental clinic could prove to be critically serious. It could spread via direct air inhalation, patients sneezing or coughing, and evaporation of the infected droplets into air usually during treatment. The infected particles introduced in the dental environment can spread from one surgery room to other areas within the clinic, via air conditioner circulation, negative pressure, air vents, or the patient and dentist himself. The sick building syndrome works on the very same concept, affecting everyone within the building radius. 

The spread of infectious disease is quite aggressive. The walls, dental chair and ceiling are easily contaminated with the microorganisms. This could harm not only the patients but any individual who enters the room. The spread of infection is unbelievable. Virulent diseases such as Hepatitis B and C could easily be contracted from one individual to another, resulting in multiple systemic diseases. Without a proper Indoor Air Quality system, cross contamination of air borne diseases between patient to staff, staff to patient, and patient to patient is merely inevitable. The implementation of state of the art technology and protocols to prevent the spread of nosocomial infection is pointless if we are still exposed to virulent air borne diseases. A good infection control system is only complete with the use of a certified IAQA system in a closed environment. 

Ever tried cleaning your air conditioner filters? The amount of dust that gets trapped inside could surprise you. Imagine if that air conditioner could suck up that much dirt from the clean air in their house, how much filtering your lungs and body has been enduring for years… without any servicing ! Similarly,  microorganisms from the air get trapped in these air conditioner filters, causing it to become a hub for bacteria growth, which later gets reintroduced back in the so called filtered air. Together with the increase in moisture level in the room, it becomes a heaven for bacteria to live in. Over time in a dental environment, molds could develop. This could affect the materials stored in the room; changing its properties and quality and thus affecting the treatment outcome.

Sustainability and the Mahatma

Found this on TriplePundit.com.

There are some sharp parallels between Gandhian philosophies and the sustainability movement.

Localism

Gandhi was a strong proponent of localism, be it food, clothing or anything else. At the time of Indian Independence, he recognized that Indians were being enslaved by their dependence on British products, especially clothing. This not only stripped Indian farmers, yarn dyers and indigo growers of their jobs but also financed the British empire. His solution was for people to spin their own cloth and wear only Indian made clothing. He believed that locally produced yarn would give people their pride and their livelihoods back.

In Gandhi’s ashram, he grew his own vegetables and kept goats for their milk, demonstrating the need to cut down our dependence on  global supply chains and cheap labor. He also had supreme respect for local knowledge when it came to agriculture, calling India “a collection of 700,000 villages” — this for the most part still holds true, but local knowledge everywhere is fast being usurped by optimization technology.

Sustainability will come a full circle only when local knowledge is recognized and given its due importance. Gandhi recognized back then that outsourcing jobs can only create a viable economy in the short-term and sooner or later the bubble will burst. I believe we are now in the reverse-globalization era and its implication for sustainability are numerous.

Austerity

In this age of consumerism and creature comforts, austerity is a concept that is often not even comprehended. Living a simple life has it benefits because it keeps you focused on your purpose. His “simple living and high thinking” philosophy is what sustainability is all about.

Civil resistance 

Gandhi’s non-violent, civil resistance movement is very much like sustainable consumption. By simply standing up to atrocities, Indians everywhere came together. Consumers everywhere, similarly need to stand up against those companies that are not ethical and stop endorsing their products.

“Poverty is the worst form of violence”

Gandhi recognized that poverty is the root of all ills and the reason why progress cannot be made. He said that unless peoples’ bellies are filled, there is no way their minds can be filled. The world faces the same struggle today and although sustainability is a way out of poverty, poverty is also a deterrent towards sustainable development.

Consolidated, joint effort 

Indian freedom was not won overnight. It started with the Sepoy Mutiny in 1857 and ended in 1947 – it took over a century of resistance and turmoil before the freedom revolution saw fruition. The sustainability movement is pretty similar – it is very young and needs a tremendous amount of momentum for it to become a revolution. If the Occupy Movement and 350.org are anything to go by, we are getting there and the tipping point is well in sight.

Humility and hope

This is especially for sustainability practitioners. This line of work requires vast amounts of both humility and hope. One can never rest on laurels of past achievements and similarly one cannot also be without hope. As the field continues to evolve, so must practitioners

“Be the change you want to see in the world”

This is probably one of my favourite quotes by the Mahatma. It implies individual responsibility, accountability, and resourcefulness. To be the change, whether big or small requires grit and gumption and the most miraculous thing is that it can come from anywhere.

Picture is from here.