Fighting Airborne Spread of COVID-19: An Innovative, Economical and Effective High Vacuum Extra Oral Dental Suction System (HVEDS) for Dental Practices

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has led to a great deal of commentary about the airborne spread of the disease. It is of special concern for the dentists as most of the dental procedures generate significant amount of aerosols and droplets. Given such high risk and inevitable aerosol production in dentistry, special precautions and protective measures to ensure safe delivery of dental treatment is directed. To ensure negligence free dental practice, in addition to the standard protective procedures and measures, high vacuum extra oral dental suction system is a mandated dental armamentarium. Most commercially available vacuum aspirators are pricey and require special units with which they can work. In a country like Pakistan, where expensive armamentarium is neither available, nor easily affordable, we present an economical yet effective, high volume extra oral dental suction system for the dental offices which does not require heavy monetary investment. An in-house alternate to the commercially available extra oral aspirator is introduced here. We devised a make-shift extra oral aerosol aspirator which can be effortlessly assembled with the materials easily available around dental offices. When tried in use, the aerosol and spatter was eliminated through the cone-shaped oil key and collected into the collection bin as observed visually. The equipment, due to its high vacuum suction capability sucks the aerosol and splatter from the working area to the collection cone. Post COVID-19, we can expect a lot of changes in the infection control practices and guidelines. The use of extra oral vacuum aspiration along with the conventional protocol has been recommended to protect both the dental staff and the patients as the high vacuum extra oral aspirator may offer the way to reduce the generated aerosol particulate.