mucosa and can be transmitted through splash , spatter , and parenteral means , such as sharps injuries .
Screening . Screening questions and taking the body temperature are very helpful in controlling exposure to infective patients . If a patient answers ‘ yes ’ to any of the questions , please defer care and refer to a medical practitioner or the county health department for further testing . Reschedule their appointment after they have been deemed negative for infectivity . Conditions such as TB , SARS and COVID-19 are reportable diseases and should be handled as recommended by the CDC .
For all the sexually transmitted diseases , one must follow hand hygiene , use appropriate PPE based on the anticipated procedure , and avoid splash , spatter , and contact with blood and body fluids while providing care . Further , aseptic precautions and use of appropriate decontamination methods will help prevent patient-to-patient transmission of these diseases .
Childhood Diseases
Respiratory Diseases
Respiratory diseases such as common cold , sinusitis , pharyngitis , pneumonia , tuberculosis , SARS and COVID-19 , seasonal and AH1N1 influenza reside in the respiratory tract and the upper respiratory tract including the nasopharynx and oropharynx .
Bioaerosols . Methods of control include reducing exposure to bioaerosols with air recirculating systems that include HEPA filters that may include UVC at about 260 nanometer wavelength , using high-volume evacuators along with rubber dam when indicated .
Physical barriers . Use of PPE such as N95 masks may also be recommended during patient care for the dentist , hygienist , and chairside assistant . Avoid contact with these patients except while providing active dental care . Use physical barriers such as rigid or flexible separators at check-in as well to control droplet infection .
Exposure time . Try to minimize exposure time to infected patients to less than 15 minutes total .
Childhood diseases comprise chickenpox , herpangina , hand foot and mouth disease , rubella and rubeola , mumps , and cytomegalovirus infections . These diseases are highly infectious to the non-immunized healthcare workers and patients and require strict infection control measures while providing care . They can reside in the oral cavity , salivary glands , oropharynx , skin , respiratory tract and the central nervous system . We must avoid contact of non-intact skin , mucosa , droplets , ingestion and blood . Hepatitis A and Hepatitis E are rarely transmitted through blood and are a very low risk of transmission in dentistry .
Dr . Raghu Puttaiah is a public health dentist , a public health professional , a Johnson & Johnson Medical Inc . Post-Doctoral Fellow in Infectious Disease Control in Dentistry , and a Fellow of International College of Dentists . He retired as a professor with tenure from TAMU College of Dentistry .
Dr . Puttaiah is President of ToothCE LLC ( www . toothce . com ), an online dental education company that provides continuing dental education in the fields of infection control , OSHA and HIPAA nationwide .
He is also President of OSHA4Dental LLC ( www . osha4dental . com ) a DFWbased dental safety educational company that provides live training for clinics in Dental Safety .
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