Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Methodol. Sep 20, 2022; 12(5): 461-464
Published online Sep 20, 2022. doi: 10.5662/wjm.v12.i5.461
Mouth shield to minimize airborne transmission risk of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases in the dental office
Mohiddin R Dimashkieh, Mohammad Zakaria Nassani, Yousef Fouad Talic, Ali Alqerban, Amir M Demachkia
Mohiddin R Dimashkieh, Mohammad Zakaria Nassani, Yousef Fouad Talic, Department of Restorative and Prosthetic Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Dar Al Uloom University, Riyadh 13314, Saudi Arabia
Ali Alqerban, Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Dar Al Uloom University, Riyadh 13314, Saudi Arabia
Ali Alqerban, Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia
Amir M Demachkia, Department of Dental Materials and Prosthodontics, São Paulo State University - Institute of Science and Technology, São José dos Campos, São Paulo 12224-300, Brazil
Author contributions: Dimashkieh MR proposed the topic of the paper; Dimashkieh MR and Nassani MZ prepared the original draft; Talic YF, Alqerban A and Demachkia AM reviewed and revised the original draft; all authors discussed and agreed the final draft.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mohammad Zakaria Nassani, DDS, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Restorative and Prosthetic Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, Dar Al Uloom University, Northen Ring Road, Exit 7, Riyadh 13314, Saudi Arabia. mznassani@dau.edu.sa
Received: June 1, 2022
Peer-review started: June 1, 2022
First decision: June 27, 2022
Revised: July 4, 2022
Accepted: August 7, 2022
Article in press: August 7, 2022
Published online: September 20, 2022
Processing time: 106 Days and 23 Hours
Abstract

Transmission of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and other infectious diseases is a significant risk during dental procedures because most dental interventions involve aerosols or droplets that could contaminate the surrounding environment. Current protection guidelines to address the high risk of droplets, aerosols, and airborne particle transmission of COVID-19 in the dental office recommend minimizing aerosol-generating procedures. In this paper, an innovative mouth shield is presented that should minimize water backsplash from the air-water syringe during dental treatment. The mouth shield can be added to the personal protective equipment to provide the dental team with extra protection. It can be made of different materials, is straightforward, inexpensive, and safe to fabricate, and is easy to use.

Keywords: Mouth shield; Transmission; Dentistry; COVID-19; Airborne; Droplets; Aerosols; Infectious diseases

Core Tip: This letter to the editor presents an innovative mouth shield to increase the protection of the dental team against the water backsplash of aerosols, droplets, and airborne particles during dental procedures.