title: Role of preprocedural rinse and high volume evacuator in reducing bacterial contamination in bioaerosols.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Microbial contamination, which occurs during dental procedures, has been a potential threat to dental professionals and individuals. There has been a growing concern over the role of bioaerosols in spread of various airborne infections and also to reduce the risk of bioaerosol contamination.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  This study was to analyze the number of colony forming units (CFUs) in bioaerosols generated during ultrasonic scaling procedure as well as to evaluate the efficacy of chlorhexidine 0.12% (CHX) preprocedural mouth rinse and high volume evacuator (HVE) in minimizing the bioaerosol contamination.
  
  
  METHODS
  About 45 individuals were divided into three Groups A, B and C. These groups underwent ultrasonic scaling before and after the use of CHX (0.12%), HVE and combination of CHX (0.12%) and HVE. Bioaerosols were collected on blood agar plates which were incubated at 37°C for 48 h, and the CFUs were counted with manual colony counting device. A comparison was also done between A versus B, B versus C and A versus C groups.
  
  
  METHODS
  Student's t-test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We found a significant reduction in the CFUs when CHX (0.12%) preprocedural rinse (P < 0), or HVE (P < 0.001) or combination of both CHX (0.12%) and HVE were employed (P < 0.001). Maximum reduction in CFUs was observed when CHX (0.12%) and HVE were used in combination as compared to their individual use. A moderate significance was seen between A versus C groups but not with B versus C groups and A versus B groups.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  From our study, we conclude that individual methods such as CHX (0.12%) and HVE were useful to reduce the dental bioaerosols; however, combination of both CHX (0.12%) and HVE is more efficient to reduce dental bioaerosols than individual method.
authors.affiliation: Head of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, Independent Dental Practitioner, Impressions Dental Car, Elegant Desire Building No 1, Coles Road, Frazer Town, Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: T V
authors.initials: TV
authors.lastname: Narayana
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, The Oxford Dental College, Bangalore, India.
authors.forename: Leeky
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mohanty
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, G Pulla Reddy Dental College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sreenath
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology, G Pulla Reddy Dental College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India.
authors.forename: Pavani
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vidhyadhari
keywords: Bioaerosols; chlorhexidine; colony forming units; high volume evacuator