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.