Role of respirators in controlling the spread of novel coronavirus (COVID‐19) amongst dental healthcare providers: a review
- 29 May 2020
- journal article
- review article
- Published by Wiley in International Endodontic Journal
- Vol. 53 (8), 1062-1067
- https://doi.org/10.1111/iej.13313
Abstract
During the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic, health care professionals are at the forefront of managing the highly infectious corona virus. As the most common route of transmission is via aerosols and droplet inhalation, it is critical for health care workers to have the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) including gowns, masks, and goggles. Surgical masks are not effective in preventing the influenza and SARS, so they are unlikely to be able to resist contaminated aerosols form entering the respiratory system. Therefore, it is vital to use respirators which have been proven to offer better protection against droplets, aerosols and fluid penetration and which form a tight seal around the mouth and nose. Various types of respirators are used in healthcare settings, such as half‐mask filtering facepiece respirators (FFRs) and powered air‐purifying respirators (PAPRs). The most commonly used FFR is the N95 disposable respirator, which is tight fitting and has a 95% or above particle filtering efficiency for a median particle size of 0.3 micrometer. This review discusses respirators, their purpose, typs, clinical efficiency and proper donning and doffing techniques.This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit:
- Fit Assessment of N95 Filtering-Facepiece Respirators in the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Strategic National Stockpile2016
- Aerosol Transmission of Infectious DiseaseJournal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 2015
- Selecting models for a respiratory protection program: What can we learn from the scientific literature?American Journal of Infection Control, 2014
- Assessment the protection performance of different level personal respiratory protection masks against viral aerosolAerobiologia, 2012
- A method for evaluating health care workers’ personal protective equipment techniqueAmerican Journal of Infection Control, 2011
- Vital Pulp Therapy in Vital Permanent Teeth with Cariously Exposed Pulp: A Systematic ReviewJournal of Endodontics, 2011
- Epithelial Cells Lining Salivary Gland Ducts Are Early Target Cells of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus Infection in the Upper Respiratory Tracts of Rhesus MacaquesJournal of Virology, 2011
- Evaluation of a Large-Scale Quantitative Respirator-Fit Testing Program for Healthcare Workers: Survey ResultsInfection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 2010
- Implementing fit testing for N95 filtering facepiece respirators: Practical information from a large cohort of hospital workersAmerican Journal of Infection Control, 2008
- Studies on Dental Aerobiology: I. Bacterial Aerosols Generated during Dental ProceduresJournal of Dental Research, 1969