Perception of Dental and Medical Teaching Faculty Regarding Mobile Dental Application.

CONTEXT: Mobile dental applications. AIMS: The aim of this study was to assess the attitude and awareness about use of mobile dental apps among the dental and medical teaching faculty of Ghaziabad district. SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All the teaching faculty of ITS Dental College were included in the survey and were provided with the questionnaire containing three components pertaining to demographic details, prevalence, and perception regarding ideal mobile dental apps. Data were collected through Google forms and were assessed on a 5-point Likert scale. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics. For the normality of data, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was performed, questionnaire was checked for validity and reliability using Cronbach's α analysis, and interclass correlation coefficient and chi-squared analysis were used to assess the relationship between the dental and medical teaching faculty and questionnaire response. The data were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences software version 23 (IBM, Armonk, New York, USA). RESULTS: An intraclass correlation between the study subjects and significant association was found, which was interpretative of strong correlation among the participants (ICC = 0.273, P = 0.042). The chi-squared test also revealed a significant association for most of the responses (P = 0.00), except for the fact that "dental apps are essential tools." Nearly 89% of the participants were using smartphones and 75% of the faculty cited as portability of mobile dental apps as the biggest advantage. CONCLUSION: The findings from the study reflected academic and technological platform for using handheld devices in clinical medical and dental setting. The ergonomics of recent handheld devices gives more comfort and portability to the users as compared to the standard operating system such as personal computers and desktop, which gives the mobile dental/medical apps an edge over them that can be used for prospective clinical settings.

Breaking the Chain of Infection: Dental Unit Water Quality Control.

INTRODUCTION: The air-water syringes, ultrasonic scalers, high speed air turbine handpieces are connected to dental units by a network of small-bore plastic tubes through which water and air travel to activate or cool the instruments and it had been shown that this system is extensively contaminated with microbial biofilms and pose a potential risk of infection for patients as well as dental professionals. AIM: To evaluate and compare the efficacy of various disinfectants in reducing the microbial colony count in water derived from Dental Unit Waterlines. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five random dental units were selected and samples were collected before and after intervention with 5 disinfectants (0.02% H2O2 continuously, 0.02% H2O2 continuously with shock treatment with 0.25% H2O2 weekly, 0.12% Chlorohexidine and 12% Ethanol overnight, 1:50 Original Listerine overnight, 2% Sodium Perborate and 2% EDTA 5 minutes in morning) using different disinfection methods for 4 weeks. Samples were cultured on Reasoner's 2A (R2A) agar for microbial counting. RESULTS: Results were recorded as Colony forming units/ml (cfu/ml) and were evaluated statistically. Results showed that all the dental unit waterlines were heavily contaminated with microbes before any intervention. After 1 day of disinfection regime the counts reduced significantly and showed progressive reduction in consecutive weeks. Goals set by ADA & CDC were ultimately achieved at the end of 4 weeks. CONCLUSION: All the disinfectants were equally effective in reducing the microbial colony count of DUWLs, irrespective of their concentration and method of disinfection.