LSU Health Dental School Aims to Produce the Very Best PPE for Those on the COVID-19 Front Lines

“I want to be able to provide my residents as well as all other residents, faculty, staff and all health care providers, not only at University Medical Center, but at other LSU Health teaching hospitals and those across the country with the very best protection possible,” declares Robert Laughlin, DDS, MD, Chairman of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at LSU Health New Orleans School of Dentistry.

His concern for and admiration of those combating COVID-19 on the front lines of patient care are what drove a collaboration that is producing reusable personal protective equipment (PPE) that affords the highest level of protection. With the shortage of disposable N95 masks as well as the filters for the reusable ones, Dr. Laughlin approached Dr. Karen Bruggers, Head of Prosthodontics at LSU Health New Orleans School of Dentistry, with the idea of using the School’s 3D printers in a new way.

They developed a prototype N95 mask with an added feature. The mask itself is made of a complex polymer, a hardened material that can easily be cleaned with a disinfectant and then reused.

“In order to provide filtration, we have coupled these with an inline anesthesia filter, which has an N99 filter inside that prevents 99.99% of bacteria and viruses from passing through the filter,” reports Dr. Laughlin. “The filter inserts into the mask.”

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The project also includes printing visors of the same polymers to which a comfortable foam band is attached as the framework for face shields. These provide a barrier against aerosol and respiratory droplets. They too can be disinfected and reused and are very much needed for LSU Health New Orleans dentists and oral surgeons who are treating dental emergencies, as well as those working in the hospitals.

Dr. Bruggers assembled a team of Dr. Alika Yu, Director of Laboratory Services and Associate Professor of Clinical Prosthodontics, Dr. Jorge Palavicini, Assistant Professor of Prosthodontics, and four dental laboratory techs -- Suleiman Hamdan, Paul Nguyen, Julio Zavala and Edwin Kee – to work on the project.

“They have converted the 3D printers that are normally used to print models, surgical guides, splints and dentures to making PPE,” Bruggers explains.

“One of the limiting factors is the speed at which the equipment can produce this PPE,” adds Laughlin. “We have applied for a grant to obtain high-speed equipment that would increase our production multifold in getting this invaluable equipment out.”

“They are producing as fast as they can, and we are happy to get them where they are needed,” notes Bruggers.

And one of those places is the ICU at University Medical Center. Along with LSU Health New Orleans Pulmonary Critical Care faculty and residents, Laughlin’s Oral Surgery residents are taking care of the sickest COVID-19 patients there now.

“We currently have about 14 of our residents treating patients in the ICU,” informs Laughlin. “They are at the front lines in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, and they are doing one heck of a job. Having been a chief resident on call at Charity Hospital during Katrina I know what it is to be on the front lines. They and their colleagues deserve the very best protection that we can offer them. I will do whatever it takes for them to be protected and safe.”

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans (LSU Health New Orleans) educates Louisiana's health care professionals. The state's health sciences university leader, LSU Health New Orleans includes a School of Medicine, the state's only School of Dentistry, Louisiana's only public School of Public Health, and Schools of Allied Health Professions, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. LSU Health New Orleans faculty take care of patients in public and private hospitals and clinics throughout the region. In the vanguard of biosciences research, the LSU Health New Orleans research enterprise generates jobs and enormous annual economic impact. LSU Health New Orleans faculty have made lifesaving discoveries and continue to work to prevent, advance treatment, or cure disease. To learn more, visit http://www.lsuhsc.edu, http://www.twitter.com/LSUHealthNO, or http://www.facebook.com/LSUHSC.