Airborne microbes in different dental environments in comparison to a public area

The aim of this study was to investigate quantitatively and qualitatively the airborne microbial load in a multi-chair dental clinic, a normal dental practice and a non-dental public area over a time period of four days and at different time points to estimate the risk of infections during dental surgery.

A multi-chair and a single chair treatment room each were examined in comparison to a non-medical public area over a period of four days. The colony forming units m(-3) (CFUs) were determined and isolated bacteria were characterised by morphological and biochemical analysis, gas chromatography and by 16S rRNA-gene sequencing. In the analyses enterococci were selectively searched for.

The CFUs in the multi-chair treatment room were between 20 and 1050 CFU m(-3). During treatment the maxima reached were below 800 CFU m(-3). The values in the dental practice were between 200 and 600 CFU m(-3) and remain slightly but not significantly below the levels of the clinic (p > 0.05). In the common area, the CFUs were between 200 and 800 CFU m(-3). The proportion of micrococci was 56.8% in the clinic, 56.07% in the practice and 69.67% in the public area Coagulase-negative staphylococci constituted 35% at the dental clinic, 25% at the bank and 38% at the dental practice. No significant differences amongst the units were detected in the microbial composition of their dental aerosols (p > 0.05).

Although, the bacterial counts in dental room were not significantly higher than the bacterial counts in a public area, the risk from dental clinic might be higher than a public area due to the type of micro-organisms, host susceptibility and the exposure time.