Evaluation of Contamination of Different Regions of Surgeon's Face During Minor Oral Surgical Procedures

To determine the high risk region of contamination on a dental surgeon's face during minor surgical procedures and investigate the relationship between duration of surgery and use of powered instrument on facial contamination by blood splatters.

This study involved total of 60 minor surgical procedures. The contamination of different regions of the surgeons face was evaluated with the help of a custom made face shield with a sponge. At the end of each procedure the face shield was detached from the surgeon's face and was subjected for analysis. To determine the incidence of blood and salivary splatters in different zones of the face, four reference boxes of 12cms x 3 cms (Fontal region, Orbital region, Nasal region and Oral region) was determined on checked white A4 sheet (21 cms x 29.7 cms). Each face shield was individually examined by placing the transparent sheet over the white A4 sheet with the reference boxes such that the borders of the face shield and the A4 sheet are approximated and the visible particles on each reference boxes were counted. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and chi square tests were used for data analysis.

Results were tabulated with regard to instrumentation, the time factor, the incidence of splatter on different regions of face. Contamination different regions of dental surgeons face was significantly different (P < 0.05). And the contamination increased with increase in duration of the procedure and use of powered tools (P < 0.05).

Among different regions of the face orbital and nasal region have a high chance of getting contaminated.