An Ultrafine Approach to Combat Aerosols
One clinician shares her experience using hypochlorous acid fogging to keep her team members safe and her practice thriving—even in the midst of a pandemic
Dentists, by their very nature, are problem solvers. After all, fixing broken teeth, relieving sensitivity, and restoring proper occlusion are all part of the job description. So, even in the face of an unprecedented global pandemic, keeping the dental team and patients safe may be a problem, but it’s an entirely solvable one—at least according to Sarah Raymond, DDS.
Like many of her peers, Dr. Raymond assumed that in the worst-case scenario, her Thurmont, MD, practice would be shut down for a week, maybe two. But as the coronavirus continued to spread and a third and fourth week rolled by, reality set in and she decided it was time to take some action.
“I realized the office was going to be closed for a while and that I needed to start taking measures not only to make myself feel safe, but to make my team and patients feel safe,” she shared. “I started to ask myself, ‘How can I solve this problem?’ And once I started looking at it as a problem-solving issue, it got easier.”
New Protocols for a Pandemic
Dr. Raymond got to work installing medical-grade air purifiers in all 7 operatories, ordering external suction units, and making sure her dental team had extra-long gowns, face shields, and hair coverings to protect themselves. But she didn’t stop there.
“I belong to an international organization called Mommy Dentists in Business, and it has been my true lifeline during this whole process,” she shared. “Think about it—if you take a problem and pose it to 7,000+ women, we’re going to come up with a solution.”
As group members tossed around ideas to enhance infection control in their practices, one member posted a video that piqued Dr. Raymond’s interest. It was of a South Korean company demonstrating hypochlorous acid (HOCl) fogging.
“I did some research on HOCl fogging and realized that it was pretty much the only thing I could do to make sure that any viral particles that are in the air or that potentially hit a no-touch or low-touch area are eradicated,” she shared.
After some trial and error exploring different fogging systems, Dr. Raymond found the U.S. distributor of the exact same HOCl fogger she saw in the video, Midlantic Dental & Medical. After sharing her research and knowledge on HOCl fogging with her dental team, they became believers, too, and now love taking turns using the disinfecting fogger.
“We use the fogger twice a day—at lunchtime and at the end of the day—and it takes 3 to 4 minutes, tops, to fog the entire office,” she shared, adding that the tank holds just over a gallon of solution and only needs to be refilled about once a week. “We can easily change the angle of the nozzle and the force of it allows us to reach every corner very quickly just by standing in the doorway. This fogger beats every mark and exceeds my expectations.”
"I think part of the reason why my office is thriving, even in the face of this pandemic, is that my team feels safe... which then trickles down to my patients."
-Sarah Raymond, DDS
An Added Layer of Protection
While fogging may be foreign to most dentists in the states, it has been used effectively in South Korea for many years to naturally and safely disinfect schools, medical offices, and cruise ships. Early on in the pandemic, it was even reported that workers at drive-through coronavirus testing stations in South Korea would step into a portable booth called a “Clean Zone,” where they were showered in a hypochlorous acid disinfectant.
The most effective member of the chlorine family, HOCl is a nontoxic, nonirritating solution with a neutral pH. While the sodium hypochlorite ion in chlorine bleach carries a negative electrical charge, HOCl carries no electrical charge—allowing it to efficiently penetrate the protective wall of a negatively charged virus, bacteria, or fungi.
When the solution is atomized via fogging, ultra-low volume particles of 20 to 50 microns are created that linger in the air for an extended period of time—encouraging prolonged contact with airborne pathogens.
“The whole idea behind fogging is that your surfaces should not be wet because it’s such an ultrafine mist. And unlike a chlorine bleach wipe that has a negative charge to it, HOCl is neutral, so it can attach quickly to a negatively charged viral particle and render it ineffective,” said Dr. Raymond.
The Bright Side of Recovery
Prior to reopening the practice, Thurmont Family Dentistry held an outdoor 2-hour seminar on infection prevention where Dr. Raymond shared the new protocols being introduced to the office—including the research she had done on HOCl fogging.
“My team members’ eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger the more I talked about it. And at the end of the seminar, they thanked me—not only for preserving the office and providing a place for them to come back to—but for going above and beyond to make them feel safe.”
While not every practice has been successful in ramping back up to its pre-COVID production levels—a fact that Dr. Raymond acknowledges with a heavy heart—Thurmont Family Dentistry is already seeing the bright side of recovery. The practice recently hired an associate and another hygienist, and will soon be adding to the front desk and clinical assistant teams.
“I think part of the reason why my office is thriving, even in the face of this pandemic, is that my team feels safe…which then trickles down to my patients,” Dr. Raymond shared.
"We practice in a small community, so word is getting out as patients tell each other what I’m doing in the office to ensure their safety. And because of that, I now have new patients banging down my door.”
Visit hoclfogger.com/news to stay up to date on how aerosols are impacting the spread of the coronavirus and how HOCl fogging can help.
