Exposure to Biological Fluids in Dental Practice—Narrative Review on Appropriate Risk Assessment to Guide Post-Exposure Management

• Published in: Pathogens (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 7; p. 968
• Main Authors: Săndulescu, Mihai, Nicolescu, Mihnea Ioan, Funieru, Cristian, Şahin, Gülşen Özkaya, Săndulescu, Oana
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 24.07.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Analysis; Blood; Body fluids; Care and treatment; Clinical Medicine; Control programs; COVID-19; Dental assistants; Dental care; Dental schools; Dentistry; Dentists; Disease prevention; Disease transmission; Epidemiology; Exposure; Fluid dynamics; HBV; HCV; Health aspects; healthcare workers; Hepatitis B; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Infections; Infectious Medicine; Infektionsmedicin; Klinisk medicin; Masks; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical personnel; Medical supplies; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Narratives; Needlestick injuries; Oral health; Pandemics; Pathogens; Personal protective equipment; post-exposure prophylaxis; Professionals; prophylaxis; Review; Reviews; risk; Risk assessment; risk assessment process; Serology; Students; Viruses; Romania; Saudi Arabia; Netherlands; Iran; Hungary; United States > US; Ireland; Poland; Italy; Estonia; HIV; dentists; healthcare workers; HCV; HBV; post-exposure prophylaxis; prophylaxis
• ISSN: 2076-0817; 2076-0817
• DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12070968

Accidental exposure to blood or other biological fluids is a common occurrence in dentistry, and its post-exposure management is a key component of infection prevention and control programs designed to prevent the transmission of blood-borne pathogens such as hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV, HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). This narrative review aims to comprehensively review the risk assessment process for each of these pathogens at all steps of the epidemiological process, i.e., source–exposure route–receptive person, in order to provide a better understanding of the delicate differences that influence the transmission risk and that drive the individualized post-exposure management.