Table 6 Characteristics of on-site sampling studies of polymer NMP air pollution.
From: Polymer waste and pollution in oral healthcare clinics: a systematic review
Study | Setting | Participants & sample size | Intervention | Methodology | Outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Akhtar et al. [41] | 10 clinics, 5 private + 5 private teaching hospitals | Number of patients not reported | Ordinary patient care, including RBC restorative care | Dust collected from surfaces, treated and extracted for microplastics using sieving, oxidative extraction, density separation, filtration, visual observation and polymer identification by digital microscope and ATR-FTIR spectroscopy | NMP count concentration (n/g dust)) NMP inhalation intake (n/g dust/day and year) NMP morphologies NMP morphologies: chemical compounds |
Tang et al. [40] | 1 hospital clinic, multiple units | Number of patients not reported | Ordinary patient care, including RBC restorative care | NanoTracer, every 10 s. real-time concentration of NMPs within the range of 10–300 nm. Also, information that may influence the concentration of NMP, including the number of patients and the dental procedures | NMP count concentration (n/cm³) |
Rafiee et al. [39] | 1 clinic, 6 units, open-area concept | 10 patients receiving either orthodontic bonding or debonding and denture adjustment) | Different treatment procedures, of which 3 included RBC. 20 min preprocedural ->40 min during procedure ->20 min postprocedural | Optical NMP sizer + mass concentration measured with a DustTrack laser photometer + personal sampler fixed to the clinician faceshield for microbial analysis | NMP count concentration (not reported) NMP mass concentration (not reported) NMP size distribution, 13 sizes (0.3–10 μm) |
Lahdentausta et al. [38] | 1 clinic, public | 84 regular adult patients undergoing 253 procedures | Ordinary patient care, including RBC restorative care | Optical NMP sizer measuring NMPs 0.3 to 10 μm, 50 cm away from patient mouth. NMP mass concentrations were calculated by converting volume size distributions to mass size distributions, assuming an NMP density of 1 g/cm³. | NMP count concentration (n/cm³) NMP mass concentration (μg/m³) NMP size distribution (<1, 1–5, >0.5 μm) |
Field et al. [37] | 1 hospital, operating theatre + adjoining anaesthetic room | Number of patients not reported | Standard cardiothoracic surgery, including coronary artery bypass grafts, lobectomies, and surgical tracheostomies. | Glass sampling beakers size 1 L with a known base surface area. 8 a.m.–8 p.m.–8 a.m. repeated x7. Beakers were rinsed, filtered onto 0.02 μm membranes and analysed using micro-Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopy. | NMP count n/m²/day Mean (SD) – maximum NMP size (μm) Prevailing NMP morphology: Prevailing compounds: |
Polednik [36] | 1 clinic | Number of patients not reported | Ordinary patient care, including RBC restorative care | Ultrafine NMP counters, optical spectrometers, NanoTracer, aerosol monitors, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, carbon analyser, and passive sampling using Petri plates. | NMP count concentration (n/cm³) NMP mass concentration (μg/m³) NMP size distribution (<0.5 and >0.5 μm) |
Sotiriou et al. [35] | 1 clinic | Number of patients not reported | Ordinary patient care, including RBC restorative care | Continuous NMP measurements taken every minute using Climet, PTRAK, and DustTrak Integrated NMP samples were collected for about 5 h on each of five sampling days using PM2.5 and PM10 samplers | NMP count concentration (n/cm³) NMP mass concentration (μg/m³) NMP size distribution (<0.5 and >0.5 μm) |
Henriks-Eckerman et al. [34] | 6 clinics, 3 private + 3 public, 1-7 units | Number of patients not reported | Ordinary patient care, including RBC restorative care | Thermal desorption tubes containing Tenax TA, above the patient’s mouth, at the nurse’s breathing zone, gas chromatograph (DL < 0.5 ng/m³) | Monomer concentration above the patients’ mouth, at the nurse’s breathing zone and in the sampling area (mg/m³) |
