Evaluation of Airborne Bacterial Contamination During Procedures in Oral Surgery Clinic
S. Jimson1, I. Kannan2, Sudha Jimson3, J. Parthiban4, and M Jayalakshmi51Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Tagore Dental College and Hospital Research Scholar Bharath University 2Department of Microbiology Tagore Dental College & Hospital 3Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology and Microbiology Sree Balaji Dental College & Hospital, Chennai Research Scholar Bharath University 4Department Of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery Tagore Dental College & Hospital 5Department Of Microbiology Tagore Dental College & Hospital
Abstract: Aerosols arising out of oral surgical procedures are composed of saliva, nasopharyngeal secretion, organic particle and blood. This aerosol may act as a vehicle for various bacteria and thus can become a source of infection. An evaluation of airborne bacterial contamination has been done to assess the bacterial composition of aerosols that are formed during surgical procedures. Thirty patients, of both gender in the age group of 18 to 25 years with mandibular impacted third molar who visited the Department of Oral and maxillofacial Surgery, in our center were selected for the study. Microbiological analysis of air borne contamination Petri dishes containing blood agar. Wilcoxon signed rank test, Friedman test using software SPSS version 17.0 Alpha hemolytic streptococci are the predominant bacterium seen in all the 30 surgeries followed by other bacteria. Bacteria grown on the blood agar plate near the surgeon and the patient are the same however Enterococcus faecalis and Escherichia coli are not grown in the agar plate kept near the instrument trolley. The dental surgery clinic should have proper air conditioning system with air filters that can reduce circulating aerosols and it should be made mandatory to find out whether the patient is in active stage of any infection before oral surgical procedure.
Keywords: Aerosol; bacteria; minor oral surgery; infection Back to TOC