Table 1.

Aerosolized Fluorescein Collected by BioSampler and Measured Using Fluorometric Analysis.

Experiment	Position	Mean Fluorescence, RFU	SD	% Reduction
Air-turbine handpiece: open-plan setting
No LEV (suction), n = 3	Operator	9,878	4,478	Reference
	0.5 m	1,514	1,153	Reference
	1.0 m	581	613	Reference
	2.0 m	166	116	Reference
LEV and suction, n = 3	Operator	905	402	90.8
	0.5 m	148	39	90.2
	1.0 m	99	50	82.9
	2.0 m	42	21	74.7
Ultrasonic scaler: single-surgery setting
No LEV, no suction, n = 3	Chest	1,681	1,184	Reference
	0.5 m	560	464	Reference
	1.0 m	187	68	Reference
	2.0 m	251	61	Reference
Suction only, n = 3	Chest	9	17	99.5
	0.5 m	1	3	99.9
	1.0 m	1	2	99.3
	2.0 m	1	3	99.5
LEV only, n = 3	Chest	22	41	98.7
	0.5 m	1	0	99.9
	1.0 m	1	1	99.7
	2.0 m	0 a	2	100.0 a
LEV and suction, n = 3	Chest	3	2	99.8
	0.5 m	2	2	99.6
	1.0 m	2	1	98.7
	2.0 m	3	1	98.7

Data adjusted for background fluorescence by subtraction of the background reading from all data (open-plan setting: 25.2 relative fluorescence units [RFU], n = 12; single-surgery setting: 25.8 RFU, n = 12). All air-turbine experiments also used dental suction.

LEV, local exhaust ventilation.

^aActual reading was below zero (–1 RFU) after subtraction of background reading but limited to zero for this table.