BRIEFS

New Cervitec Gel with optimized care formula

The new Cervitec Gel is recommended especially for the care of at-risk areas. The oral care gel with optimized care formula contains chlorhexidine, fluoride, xylitol and provitamin D-panthenol. With the new formula, Cervitec Gel protects the teeth, gums, peri-implant tissue and mucuous membrane with even more efficiency. Cervitec Gel supports the treatment of gingivitis, mucositis, denture stomatitis, periodontitis and peri-implantitis and helps combat elevated bacterial counts. It prevents inflammation and freshens breadth. Provitamin D-panthenol and xylitol moisturize and protect the gums and mucous membrane. Depending on the situation, the gel is applied either directly on the oral mucous membrane or removable restoration and distributed with an interdental brush or used to brush teeth. Given its smooth consistency, the clear gel can be optimally distributed on complex surfaces, e.g. implant restorations. Cervitec Gel can be applied in the dental office or at home. Cervitec Gel is widely accepted due to its mild taste. The soothing ingredients leave a pleasant feeling in the mouth. Available from Ivoclar on 1300-486-252 or visit www.ivoclar.com

Top 3 things you can do at dentalcommunity.com.au

The Dental Community website offers members of the dental profession a range of tools to make your life easier and more prosperous. You can sign up for free and enjoy a range of online tools. Here are just 3...

1Marketing! Login to list your practice - or update your details - on the hugely popular www.dentist.com.au website used by the public to find dentists, dental hygienists and oral health therapists. Not only can you manage your personal and practice details on the site, you can also view Google Analytics data about how your listing is performing on the website. As a dental hygienist or oral health therapist, you can ensure your profile is up-to-date and linked to all the practices where you work... and if you change jobs, you can immediately update dentist.com.au.

2Track your CPD: With a new CPD cycle beginning, now is the perfect time to start logging the CPD you complete as you do it so in 3 years time, you’ll know exactly where you stand. Not only can you do this at www.dentalcommunity.com.au, the website also does some of it for you automatically. Any course you register to attend through Dentevents.com (such as with Ivoclar, Geistlich, GC, etc), your CPD is automatically recorded (and you can download the CPD certificate and your receipt any time). It’s also quick and easy to log any other courses you have completed too.

3Complete CPD Questionnaires. If you’re a paid subscriber to Oral Hygiene (it’s only $22 a year), you can complete dozens of CPD Questionnaires from past editions - and a new questionnaire for each new edition - and receive 2 hours of CPD for each. Simply read the four CPD articles in each edition and then log in and complete the 20 questions. All the articles from past editions are also available to read online. And the CPD from the questionnaires is automatically logged in your CPD diary. Personal protective equipment (PPE) worn by healthcare providers is exposed to SARS-CoV-2 while caring for infectious patients, in turn increasing the chances of fomite transmission of the virus during PPE doffing or reuse without prior disinfection. A pilot study modelled the stability of SARS-CoV-2 on common PPE worn in hospitals to simulate a moderate-dose SARS-CoV-2 transmission event that might occur during a high-risk airway procedure on a COVID-19 patient. The objective of this study is to relate SARS-CoV-2 concentrations on surfaces to predict the exposure of a single healthcare worker over an 8-hour shift and estimate the effects of doffing mistakes and number of care episodes per shift on inoculated dose per shift. They modelled the stability of SARS-CoV-2 on PPE commonly worn in hospitals when carrying out high-risk airway procedures. Evaluated PPE included the visors and hoods of two brands of commercially available powered air purifying respirators, a disposable face shield and Tyvek coveralls. Samples were collected at 4, 8, 24, 48 and 72 hours postexposure. A 72-hour time frame was selected as it coincides with a common work schedule observed by many intensive care unit personnel who may need to reuse PPE due to shortages. SARS-CoV-2 displayed prolonged stability on those PPE materials evaluated in this study, all of which had infectious SARS-CoV-2 present at least 72 hours postexposure. Following an exposure to 4.3 log10 plaque-forming units (PFUs) of SARS-CoV-2, all materials displayed a reduction in titre of > 4.2 log10 by 72 hours postexposure, with detectable titres at 72 hours varying by material (1.1-2.3 log10 PFU/mL). Although we found the predicted half-life of SARS-CoV-2 on PPE ranged from 6.74 to 10.05 hours (depending on the PPE material), it is important to note that between 1.9 and 2.3 log10 PFU/mL of infectious virus remained on those PPE evaluated in this study at 72 hours postexposure. This is in contrast to SARS-CoV-2 viability on cloth fabric (i.e., 50/50 nylon/cotton ripstop fabric), which decreased rapidly and was not recoverable at 24 hours postexposure. The results highlight the need for proper doffing and disinfection of PPE, or disposal, to reduce the risk of SARSCoV-2 contact or fomite transmission.