Risk of Contamination of Different Areas of Dentist’s Face During Dental Practices

Background: dental practice presents opportunities forcross-contamination. the dentist’s face is at high-risk of infectiontransmission. the purpose of this study was to evaluate the riskof contamination in different areas of dentist’s face during dentalpractices.methods: the visible splashes of materials that accumulatedon cellulose face shields during 144 prosthetics and periodontalprocedures were evaluated. the splashes were detected on 14 areas(each 1 cm2) of the dentist’s face including around nose, mouth,eyes, and zygoma by a magnifier (×2). one way analysis of variance,duncan and t-test were used for data analysis (? = 0.05).results: contamination of different areas of dentist’s face wassignificantly different (p < 0.05). the areas around nose and theinner corner of eyes were the most contaminated areas. zygomawas the least contaminated area. the contaminated areas duringperiodontal treatments were significantly more than prosthetictreatments (p < 0.05). there was no significant difference betweencontamination on left and right sides of the face.conclusions: during dental practice, central areas of the facesuch as inner part of the eyes and around the nose were mostcontaminated areas. these parts are the important areas fortransmission of infection. it is recommended to use protectivemeans like glasses, mask, and protective shield, which have moreprotection field in these areas.