Shedding UVC light on Covid-19 to protect dentistry staff and patients

Abstract

In December 2019, a severe case of pneumonia of unknown etiology appeared in Wuhan, China. Three months later, the highly contagious coronavirus disease, Covid-19, was declared a pandemic. Covid-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, that in March 2021 has infected more than 120 million people worldwide and killed more than 2.7 million. Covid-19 has been the deadliest pandemic to arise since the 1918 Spanish flu, shutting down economies and societies worldwide. Covid-19 caused patients to neglect routine visitations to their healthcare providers, out of fear of catching the disease. Fortunately, within our arsenal exist great tools to limit transmission of Covid-19, including face masks and persistent decontamination of surfaces. They have allowed the population to safely return to work and feel safer when visiting their healthcare providers. Arguably, dental workers and patients face a great risk. Although dental workers are appropriately masked during procedures, patients cannot be masked. With 50% of Covid-19 patients presenting as asymptomatic, contamination of dental clinics with SARS-CoV-2 is a genuine concern. An unmasked patient undergoing routine dental procedures can easily spread saliva containing SARS-CoV-2 across dental clinics, which may facilitate transmission of Covid-19. Therefore, an effective decontamination method, such as ultraviolet C (UVC) light, capable of inactivating SARS-CoV-2 on different surfaces as well as within aerosols, may warranted lower the risk of transmission within the dental clinic. In this review, we propose to discuss the studies that have investigated the potential for UVC to decontaminate face masks, surfaces, and aerosols, with a focus on how these may be applied to the dental clinic.