Regulatory guidance met or exceeded by
Air Quality Guard:
"Ventilation systems that provide air movement in a clean-to-less-clean flow direction reduce the distribution of contaminants and are better at protecting staff and patients."
-June 17, 2020 Guidance for Dental Settings
At Air Quality Guard, we don't just do it better. We do it best!
The safety and peace of mind of your patients, dental staff, and the general public is our business. Our amazing patent-pending system is designed to maximize the capture of aerosols generated during dental visits.
The Air Quality Guard System equips your operatories and entire office with an unparalleled level of filtration that eliminates pathogens, particulates, odors and gaseous contaminants (including mercury) from the air. Not only that, but The Air Quality Guard System drastically increases the air changes per hour in each office or clinic, generates directional airflow that helps prevent the spread of COVID-19, and can easily be used to convert existing rooms into negative pressure isolation rooms.
This one system does it all!
The superior quality of each component of this built-in aerosol extraction and filtration system is readily apparent.
The laboratory-grade aerosol extraction arms and industrial-grade fan are made to exacting European standards while the sturdy, American-made filtration housing is built and tested to meet the stringent demands of a high-velocity, leak-free system. All filters are made in the USA, including the HEPA filter which is factory-certified to perform at a level above even what is recommended for hospital surgical rooms. Unlike the inferior products that claim to use HEPA filters but gradually allow more and more particles to pass through, our HEPA filters will filter at the same efficiency rate until the end. Quality, performance, and safety are what you should expect in your Air Quality Guard System! Give us a call, and let us help you transform the air in your office today!
Risk is in the air
Many dangerous diseases travel through the air, including tuberculosis, measles, and the bubonic plague. We now know that SARS-CoV-2 spreads readily through aerosolized particles generated by infected individuals while coughing, sneezing, talking, and even breathing. The aerosolized coronavirus particles are known to be able to linger in the air for hours, with a half-life of 2.7 hours.
This poses very real risks to all dental office staff and patients. As the virus is mostly spread by asymptomatic and presymptomatic individuals, there exists no way for even the best screening protocols to screen out contagious individuals.
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Infection is prevalent within the population
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Patients must remove protections for treatment
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Doctor, clinical team and other patients are all at risk
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Fear of infection leads patients to delay care
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One COVID-19 infection can shut down your practice for 2 weeks
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You cannot afford to do nothing
HVAC Can Make the Problem Worse
HVAC systems are designed to maintain a constant temperature within a large space. They do this by circulating warm or cold air to equalize the temperature across zones. This can increase occupant exposure to airborne contaminants.
Without controlled, directional airflow, contaminants freely circulate in the operatory, increasing likelihood of infection. Contaminated air is never replaced by clean air, only diluted with conditioned air from the hallway & vents.
PPE alone is not enough
While handheld high volume evacuation is capable of removing a lot of the aerosols generated during dental procedures, its limitations are an inability to capture all the aerosol and splatter generated by performing everyday dentistry. Besides this, it is entirely inadequate for the removal of the aerosols generated by common tasks such as breathing and speech.
Face shields can be employed to protect the eyes from splatter. They are ineffective as protection against infectious
aerosols. Common loupes afford the eyes little protection from aerosols, and either goggles, full facepiece respirators, or powered air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) must be utilized. These "solutions" create obvious secondary issues for clinical staff to deal with. The ultimate problem is that no matter how protective PPE is, it is able to do nothing to prevent infectious virus particles from spreading throughout the office to patients and staff. Even N95 masks allow for 5% of particles the size of aerosolized coronavirus virions to pass through. While PPE is critical, it is only a partial solution.
Inevitable aerosol generation
Low and high-speed dental handpieces, ultrasonic scalers, air polishers, air abrasion units, and air/water syringes all generate splatter and aerosols, potentially aerosolizing infectious viruses, bacteria, fungi, blood, saliva, and sputum. The vast majority of procedures performed in the dental office generate aerosols, potentially causing these microorganisms and substances to become airborne.
Much of the guidance being issued today suggests avoidance of aerosol-generating procedures, which is not a sustainable plan for dentistry.
It's time to think differently
Other filtration systems focus on how filter the ambient air in treatment rooms, diluting contaminated air with conditioned air.
Air Quality Guard is built on 4 key principles:
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Source Capture: evacuate dangerous aerosols from the treatment area and to capture them as they leave the mouth
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Directional Airflow: prevent contaminated air from circulating
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Superior Filtration: 99.99% HEPA filter, gas-phase filter,
and pre-filter -
Increased Air Changes: 5-10+ additional air changes per hour
Air Quality Guard is built specifically for dental and medical environments, where airborne contaminants are expected to be present. No other system accounts for the unique challenges facing dental and medical providers.
A better concept
Designed from the ground up to meet the needs of medical and dental treatment, only Air Quality Guard:
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Captures contaminants at all sources
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Controls airflow to prevent circulation
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Provides superior filtration
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Changes 100% of the air every 7 minutes
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Takes up minimal space in operatory
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Powerful but quiet
Safe enough for space
Applying the same technologies and air filtration concepts used to keep the air aboard space shuttles and the International Space Station safe for breathing, The Aerosol Solution System is designed to effectively remove from the air every class of airborne particles from the largest, visible particles to the smallest particles on the nanoscale. Well over 99.99% of particles are filtered out of the air by the high level HEPA filter. The HEPA filter and filter housing are certified to perform to the rigorous levels they are designed to before leaving the factory. The activated carbon filter capably removes gaseous pollutants including VOCs, bad breath odors, nitrous oxide, and mercury vapors. When used properly, our room-mounted aerosol extraction arms capably remove up to 100% of the aerosols generated during dental procedures while simultaneously acting as an office-wide air filtration system that provides, as NASA has said, “superior performance for removing virtually 100% of particulates” found in the air!
Aesthetics and Design
Air Quality Guard works with installers across the United States to provide mounted, aesthetically pleasing, laboratory-grade aerosol extraction arms with whisper-level operation in every operatory and beside every patient chair. The only visible part of Air Quality Guard in each room is the arm, which is offered in a silver and white color, all-white, or silver and black color scheme. They are not readily noticed by patients entering the rooms as they blend in very well with existing dental office equipment.
The arms fold up and out of the way when not in use similar to arms on wall-mounted x-ray units. A system designer works with each office to design an airflow pattern that helps prevent operatory air from escaping and mixing with air in non-clinical areas. For offices desiring to create actual negative pressure isolation rooms, gauges can be added to monitor the pressure differential between the operatory and exterior space.