D. Vansteenberghe et al., COMPLETE NOSE COVERAGE TO PREVENT AIRBORNE CONTAMINATION VIA NOSTRILSIS UNNECESSARY, Clinical oral implants research, 8(6), 1997, pp. 512-516
Besides an a-traumatic procedure, aseptic techniques during surgery ha
ve been suggested to have a positive impact on the predictability of o
sseointegration. To avoid an infection of the surgical field, coverage
of the face of the patient (drapes) and nose (surgical mask, drape an
d plastic film) were advocated in order to reduce airborne infections
and to prevent a contact contamination of instruments and gloves. Such
a coverage, however, increases the feeling of claustrophobia when loc
al anaesthesia is used and can lead to hypoxemia. The aim of the prese
nt study was to investigate whether the expired air via the nostrils c
ould contribute to the contamination of the oral surgical field. Test
blood agar plates were installed for 30 min under the nose of voluntee
rs lying on a surgical table; once with full coverage of their nostril
s, as indicated above, and once without. Simultaneously, control plate
s were installed on a table besides the patient to measure the basic c
ontamination from the environment. All plates were incubated both aero
bically and anaerobically. The number of colony forming units (c.f.u.)
recorded on test plates after aerobic and anaerobic incubation were s
urprisingly low, with a mean score of 2.7 and 5.0 c.f.u. for the uncov
ered situation, and 2.5 and 3.3 c.f.u. for the covered situation, resp
ectively. The control plates were infected by a nearly comparable numb
er of bacteria (means ranging from 2.2 to 3.2). These findings indicat
e that covering nostrils by a mask and sterile adhesive plastic film i
s not essential in avoiding airborne microbial contamination. However,
the use of a meshed nose guard to prevent contact with the highly con
taminated nasal skin is highly recommended.