According to the World Health Organization, many common respiratory infections continue to have high morbidity and mortality rates every year. Unlike other departments, operations in dental clinics using special instruments (mainly including high-speed turbine handpieces and ultrasonic scalers) can eject large quantities of water mist and aerosols, many of which are pathogenic, e.g. coronaviruses, tuberculosis, measles viruses, herpes simplex viruses, which can survive in the air for hours. What's more, during treatment, patients cannot wear masks and most pathogens can reach the patient's alveoli directly through the respiratory tract.
In order to find more appropriate ways to control the source of infection, cut off transmission routes and protect susceptible populations, it is necessary to investigate the current status of respiratory infection prevention and control measures in dental clinics. Therefore, in January and February 2023, we conducted a sample survey of prevention and control management in dental clinics in Dandong, Liaoning Province, China.
A multistage stratified equivocal volumetric random sampling method was used to select 30 dental clinics in Dandong City, Liaoning Province, China, that had a medical institution licence and were equipped with two or more comprehensive dental treatment units. In the first stage, Zhenxing District and Yuanbao District were selected for the survey. In the second stage, we selected 15 streets with dental clinics in each area. In the third stage, one dental clinic equipped with more than two comprehensive dental treatment units and cooperating with the survey was randomly selected from each street.
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