The term medical grade used by manufacturers to illustrate the filtration grade of their air purifiers.
Hepa filtration systems for dental offices.
First we will give a brief overview of hepa filters and how to compare air purifier performance.
A medical grade air purifier is which uses h13 or higher grade hepa high efficiency particulate air where the minimum removal efficiency is 99 97 for 0 3 microns particle size.
Thesystem releases the filtered air back into the surrounding room therefore improving the indoor air quality of the dental office.
Currently there are no mandates in place that require offices to purchase air purifiers the effectivity of these systems against the coronavirus has yet to be scientifically proven.
Dental air purifiers need to capture drill aerosols abrasion powder vapors and other contaminants including mercury.
Merv rated filters are typically used in air conditioning systems including systems found in most homes.
This guide is written for dental offices to assist in how to choose the right hepa filtration system and is based on questions we have received from dentists.
Hepa stands for high efficiency particulate air hepa filters are physical filters designed to clear out at least 99 7 percent of particulates that are 0 3 microns or larger in size.
This requires advanced filtration that can purify air down to a very small size.
Hepa and merv filters are usually not the same.
Viruses and other contaminants can quickly spread through the air in a dental office.
Drilling and other procedures can increase the presence of airborne viruses including viral hepatitis as small as 0 05 microns in diameter.
In order to effectively clean the air in a dental office an air purifier must be able to use extraoral suction and high efficiency particles and gas filtration technology to capture both particles aerosols microorganisms droplets dust and gaseous chemicals mercury.
High efficiency particulate air hepa is a mechanical air filter.
Ventilation of the dental office the second step ventilation in the dental office can include placing a high speed extraoral evacuation system close to the source of contaminants patient s mouth and additionally increasing air flows in mechanical ventilation systems e g.
Ordinary hepa filters can only filter 0 3 micron particles and larger.
Merv filters have a rating system merv 7 8 10 and so on up to merv 20.
The focus will be on how to clean rooms in a dental operatory and the waiting area.
Hepa air filters for a dentist office.
High quality filter options include hepa filters up to 99 97 efficiency on particles 0 3 microns and larger ulpa filters up to 99 9995 efficiency on particles 0 12 microns and larger and activated carbon.
