Dental care professionals are at high risk of cross-infection while treating patients.
Dental care professionals are at high risk of cross-infection while treating patients. This occupational potential for disease transmission becomes evident when it is considered that most human microbial pathogens have been isolated from oral secretion. Research has shown that infective hazards are present in dental practice because many infections can be transmitted by blood or saliva via direct or indirect contact, droplets, aerosols, or contaminated instruments and equipment. For this reason, since the end of the 1980s, many surveys have been carried out in several countries, to investigate practices to control infection and compliance with universal precautions in dental surgeries. Previous sero epidemiological studies have confirmed these occupational hazards, showing higher concentrations of serum antigen and antibodies for hepatitis B, hepatitis C, and Legionella spp, in dentists than in the lay population and an increased prevalence of respiratory infections and symptoms possibly related to aerosols.
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