High-volume evacuation with intraoral suction devices reduce microbial aerosols during scaling: Study

The route of transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has challenged dentistry to improve the safety for patients and the dental team during various treatment procedures.

Therefore, Montry S. Suprono and colleagues from the Loma Linda University School of Dentistry, Loma Linda, California, USA conducted the present study with the purpose to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of dental evacuation systems in reducing aerosols during oral prophylactic procedures in a large clinical setting.

This was a single-center, controlled clinical trial using a split-mouth design. A total of 93 student participants were recruited according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Aerosol samples were collected on blood agar plates that were placed around the clinic at 4 treatment periods: baseline, high-volume evacuation (HVE), combination (HVE and intraoral suction device), and posttreatment.

Student operators were randomized to perform oral prophylaxis using ultrasonic scalers on 1 side of the mouth, using only HVE suction for the HVE treatment period and then with the addition of an intraoral suction device for the combination treatment period.

Agar plates were collected after each period and incubated at 37 °C for 48 hours. Colony-forming unit (CFU) counts were determined using an automatic colony counter.

The following key findings were highlighted-

1. The use of a combination of devices resulted in significant reductions in CFUs compared with the use of the intraoral suction device alone (P < .001).
2. The highest amounts of CFUs were found in the operating zone and on patients during both HVE and combination treatment periods.

Therefore, the authors concluded that "significant reductions in the amount of microbial aerosols were observed when both HVE and an intraoral suction device were used."

Furthermore, they inferred that the combination of HVE and intraoral suction devices significantly decreases microbial aerosols during oral prophylaxis procedures.