Akbari Narjes, Salehiniya Hamid, Abedi Farshid, Abbaszadeh Hamid
Department of Oral Medicine, Faculty of Dentistry, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Birjand University of Medical Sciences, Birjand, Iran.
J Educ Health Promot. 2021 Jun 30;10:206. doi: 10.4103/jehp.jehp_1220_20. eCollection 2021.
Coronavirus disease 2019 is a new viral outbreak in the world. Dentists and their assistants are at greatest risk of exposure to the virus, due to close contact with patients and dealing with aerosols. Hence, the aim of this study was to compare the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) and supplementary protective equipment (SPE) and observance of the principles of infection control (PIC) in dentists and their assistants before and after the corona crisis.
This cross-sectional study was conducted using an online survey from May 6 to 20, 2020. Convenience sampling was used to select individuals. The questionnaire, consisting of four general categories about the use of PPE and SPE and the observance of PIC by dentists and their assistants before and after corona crisis, was registered at Porsline website (https://survey.porsline.ir/s/KUt7VQB). Frequencies in each subcategory were calculated and comparisons were done using Chi-square test, Fisher's exact test, and paired sample -test. A < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.
There were significant differences in the frequency of use of PPE by dentists before and after corona crisis for oral and dental examination and also dental procedures ( < 0.001). There were significant differences in the frequency of use of SPE and observance of PIC before and after corona crisis, except for different types of suction types ( = 0.22), dental handpiece ( = 0.66), and dental unit ( = 1). There were significant differences in the frequency of use of PPE by dental assistants before and after corona crisis ( < 0.001).
Although the frequency of use of PPE and observance of PIC increased among dentists and their assistants, this increase is not sufficient, especially for dental assistants, and a higher level of use of PPE and PIC observance in face of highly contagious and life-threatening viruses such as corona is required.
2019冠状病毒病是全球范围内爆发的一种新型病毒疫情。由于与患者密切接触并处理气溶胶，牙医及其助手面临着最大的病毒暴露风险。因此，本研究的目的是比较在新冠危机前后，牙医及其助手使用个人防护设备（PPE）和补充防护设备（SPE）的情况以及对感染控制原则（PIC）的遵守情况。
本横断面研究于2020年5月6日至20日通过在线调查进行。采用便利抽样法选取个体。该问卷由四个大致类别组成，涉及新冠危机前后牙医及其助手对PPE和SPE的使用情况以及对PIC的遵守情况，问卷已在Porsline网站（https://survey.porsline.ir/s/KUt7VQB）上登记。计算每个子类别的频率，并使用卡方检验、费舍尔精确检验和配对样本检验进行比较。P < 0.05被认为具有统计学意义。
在新冠危机前后，牙医在口腔和牙科检查以及牙科操作中使用PPE的频率存在显著差异（P < 0.001）。除了不同类型的吸引器（P = 0.22）、牙科手机（P = 0.66）和牙科治疗台（P = 1）外，新冠危机前后SPE的使用频率和对PIC的遵守情况存在显著差异。牙科助手在新冠危机前后使用PPE的频率也存在显著差异（P < 0.001）。
尽管牙医及其助手使用PPE的频率和对PIC的遵守情况有所增加，但这种增加并不足够，尤其是对于牙科助手而言，面对如新冠这样具有高度传染性和危及生命的病毒，需要更高水平地使用PPE和遵守PIC。
