European Journal of Molecular & Clinical Medicine

Background: Proper use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is an integral part of infection control and prevention of cross-infection during dental treatment, which has gained momentum following the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
Aim: This cross-sectional descriptive study aimed to assess the attitude and commitments of Dental Health Care Providers (DHCP) and students at Riyadh Elm University (REU) teaching hospitals to (PPE) during their daily practice.
Material and Method: Data was collected using an electronic, close-ended questionnaire uploaded through Google Forms and sent via email to the study population. It consisted of twenty questions targeting the health care provider at (REU) dental hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In addition to the demographic data, the questions were directed at assessing the participants' attitudes and commitment toward (PPE) during their daily clinical work.
Results: The total number of participants was 136 (57.4% male and 42.6% female). Most of the participants used to wear surgical medical masks (63.2%). N95 masks were used by only 11.8% of the respondents. More than half of the participants (58.8%) used to wear the masks for four hours, with a statistically significant difference between males and females regarding the masks' time (P-value =.0021). 91.9% of the time, the mask was worn during the patient examination and history taking. Only 58.1% and 85.3% of respondents reported using face coverage and eye protection, respectively. A head cap was used routinely by 55.1% of the participants. Dental assistants adhered to PPE and measures better than the other groups, especially when wearing gowns and head caps (P 0.05). Only 69.9% of the respondents answered correctly about the correct sequence of wearing PPE, and only 54.1% knew the correct sequence of removing PPE.
Conclusion: The general practices and commitment to PPE among DHCPs at REU are acceptable. There was a lack of knowledge regarding proper donning and doffing sequences. Compliance with eye protection and hand hygiene practice recommendations needs improvement. Dental assistance demonstrated better commitment to eye protection, gown, and head cap-wearing and better knowledge regarding donning and doffing than other DHCPs.

Introduction: Surgical site infections (SSI) constitute a major public health problem worldwide and are the second most frequently reported nosocomial infections. They are responsible for increasing the treatment cost, length of hospital stay and significant morbidity and mortality.Aim: To isolate, identify and study bacteriological profile of surgical site infections,with  antibiogram.Materials and Methods: Samples were collected using sterile cotton swabs from 190 patients clinically diagnosed of having SSIs and were processed as per standard microbiological techniques. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was done using modified Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method. This Prospective study was conducted for a period of one year (January 2016 to December 2016) in the Department of Microbiology at Yenepoya Medical college hospital, Mangalore, India.Results:. Out of total 190 samples, 170 (89.4%) yielded bacterial growth.Most common predisposing factors causing surgical site infections were patients having Diabetes mellitus(23.53%) followed by Smokers(14.12),Hypertension(11.76).Escherichia coli (24.12%) was the commonest organism followed by Staphylococcus aureus(18.82%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (18.24%) and Coagulase negative Staphylococcus species (14.12%). Antimicrobial profile of gram positive isolates revealed maximum sensitivity to Vancomycin, Teicoplanin and Linezolid, whereas among gram negative isolates Imepenem, Piperacillin-tazobactam, and Amikacin were found to be most sensitive.Conclusion: The rate of SSI observed in this study was comparable to other similar studies, however we observed a higher degree of antimicrobial resistance. Adherence to strict infection control measures, maintenance of proper hand hygiene and optimal preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative patient care will surely reduce the incidence of SSIs.

Background:A surgical site infection is an infection that occurs after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place. SSIs previously called Post-operative wound infection result from bacterial contamination during or after a surgical procedure.Surgical Site Infection (SSI) by definition refers to an infection which occurs within 30 days after the surgery or within 1 year when an implant is left in place after the surgery and involving the incision or deep tissues at the operated site or infections involving organ or body space other than the incision, which was opened or manipulated during an operation. Surgical site infections (SSI) constitute a major public health problem worldwide and are the second most frequently reported nosocomial infections. They are responsible for increasing the treatment cost, length of hospital stays and significant morbidity and mortality. A surgical site infection is an infection that occurs after surgery in the part of the body where the surgery took place. This study is an attempt to know the pre-operative, Operative and post-operative factors predisposing to Surgical site infections and the bacteriological profile of those infection so as to establish Antibiotic guidelines in our tertiary care centre.
Materials and Methods: All adult male and female patients of age more than 18 yrs undergoing abdominal surgeries for various reasons were included in the study. This prospective study was conducted in the department of general surgery in SVS Medical College between 1-6-2020 to 6-5-2021.
Results: This study included 100 patients who underwent abdominal surgery, out of which 30 patients developed Surgical site infections. So the incidence is 30%. Incidence of SSI among males was 29.3 % whereas incidence of infection among females was 33.3 %. Clean wounds had least SSI (6.7%) and the Dirty wounds had the highest SSI (50%). Using drain was associated with increased incidence of SSI (44%) and mesh usage was not associated with SSI. SSI was most commonly detected on Post op day (POD) 4 (20 out of 45 cases). The SSI rate increased with increasing age and it also increased significantly with the increasing duration of pre-operative hospitalization. The SSI rate was significantly higher in emergency surgeries as compared to the elective surgeries. The infection rate was significantly higher as the duration of the surgery increased. The most commonly isolated organism from surgical site infections were Enterococci (22.2%) and staphylococcus aureus (22.2%) and other bacteria. Most of the organisms which were isolated were multidrug resistant. The high rate of resistance to many antibiotics underscored the need for a policy that could promote more rational use of antibiotics.
Conclusion: The rate of SSI observed in this study was comparable to other similar studies, however we observed a higher degree of antimicrobial resistance. Adherence to strict infection control measures, maintenance of proper hand hygiene and optimal preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative patient care will surely reduce the incidence of SSIs.

The COVID-19 outbreak has affected human existence in many ways, with
uncertainty faced globally. The dental practice and orthodontic care during the pandemic
and future practice will require precautionary and selective case evaluation based on the
practitioner’s judgment to reduce cross-contamination and prevent new outbreaks. This
article aims to provide a comprehensive guideline for managing the pediatric dental
patients at a clinical setup, using the currently available guidelines.

Background: In this time of COVID-19 crisis, need of hour to appropriately perform dental
procedures to reduce the spread of this deadly disease, it is importance to assess the knowledge
and attitude of pediatric dentists regarding spread and control of infection before and after
COVID-19 crisis.
Methods and Materials: Questionnaire-based survey composed of 6 questions that assess the
knowledge of pediatric dentists regarding COVID-19 infection and 10 questions each designed
to gather information about their clinical practice before and after COVID-19 crisis which
shows attitude of pediatric dentists. Online survey link was circulated through social media
and an e-mail to pediatric dentists from different locations in India and the responses were
collected. 346 pediatric dentists willingly responded in the study.

Infection control practices are important in a clinical setup to avoid the risk of infection among the patients and practitioners. Proper infection control measures such as proper basic disposal and sterilization of instruments that are basic infection control measures should be directly followed in a clinical setup. This study aims to access the knowledge, attitude and practice regarding occupational hazards and infection control measures among dental students. The study was conducted among dental undergraduates and postgraduates.The study group consisted of 3rd year, 4th year and Interns and Postgraduate students. Total number of students included in the study was 121 participants. The data was collected and analysed through IBM SPSS statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics were done. About 90.9% of the dental students answered that the dental clinics are more prone for infectious disease. Among all the dental students, 76.9% of the students experienced the accidental injury in clinics. Among them 44.6% of the students reported that needle injury was the cause for the occupational injury followed by 21.5% of scalpel blade, 4.1% of burs. About 11.4% of dental students were not immunized against Hepatitis B virus (HBV). Among them who received vaccination, 43.8% of them had completed the three recommended doses of HBV vaccination. The students know the importance of infection control and the knowledge among all students about the protocols about infection control was high but practice was quite low. A better knowledge of infection control is essential for safe practice in dentistry. This will ensure the provision of better and safer dental health-care service for the population.

Rubber dam was introduced by Dr.Barnum in the 1860 s, the main advantage of using rubber dams in endodontics include patient protection from medicaments, aspiration of endodontic instruments, tooth debris, and irrigating solutions. The aim of the study to determine the prevalence and frequency of rubber dam usage during endodontic procedures among dentists in the state of TamilNadu, India.A survey was conducted among 101 dentists in the state of Tamil Nadu, India by preparing a set of questions, and the answers were collected through an online survey method.In this survey, 82.2% feel comfortable to use a rubber dam,36.6% never use a rubber dam to pediatric patients,89% always use a rubber dam to adult patients,61.4% not using rubber dam for all cases of RCT,73.8% need to gain knowledge about rubber dams through training programs,23.8 % told patients discomfort was a reason for not using a rubber dam, 80.2% not using rubber dam while taking X- rays,45.5% take more than 5 mins for applying a rubber dam to patients,63.4% told it is easily available for clinical usage.The present survey shows there is a low prevalence of its usage during endodontic treatment. Greater emphasis should be placed on the advantages of using rubber dams in clinical dentistry at dental school and through continuing dental education for practitioners to update their knowledge

A virus is composed of nucleic acid either DNA or RNA, surrounded by a protein coat.It requires a living cell to multiply. A viral infection can lead to a spectrum of symptoms from asymptomatic to severe disease.Worldwide,5% of health-care-related infections are being transmitted. Dentists are considered being a high risk group for cross-infection.Therefore it is important that dental students have adequate knowledge and awareness of viral infections.The aim of the study is to evaluate the knowledge, awareness and attitude about oral manifestations of viral infections among dental students.A self explanatory questionnaire comprising 20 questions was presented to 205 students. The questionnaire enquired about oral manifestations of different viral infections and their precautionary infection control measures .Out of 205 students 86.34% were males and 13.66% were females,189 of them knew that the most common oral manifestation in HIV patients is candidiasis.92.6%agreed that a dentist could get Herpetic paronychia.When asked if treatment of patients with viral infections required special clinics 68.1% responded yes.Our study showed that the dental undergraduate students had adequate knowledge on oral manifestations of viral diseases but lacking knowledge about infection control protocol for the various diseases. Hence students should improve their attitude towards them in their dental practice.