Background: Outbreak of novel corona virus has led World Health Organization (WHO) to come up with healthcare guidelines which includes wearing of N95 mask. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether blood oxygen saturation level is affected by wearing of N95 mask for the duration of 4 hours. Materials and Methods: A total of 90 exam going students were included in this study, who were instructed to wear N95 mask. Blood oxygen saturation level (SpO2) was checked both before and after wearing of N95 mask for a period of 4 hours. Results: It was observed that, before wearing N95 mask at 9 am, SpO2 values were 96.64±0.196 while at 1 pm after removing N95 mask, the saturation values were 95.68±0.235 (p=0.000) among all the students. There was a statistically highly significant difference seen for the values between the time intervals (p<0.01) with higher values at 9 am and lesser at 1pm. On comparing the SpO2 levels among males and females, a statistically nonsignificant difference was seen. Thus, reduction in blood oxygen saturation level can be a major parameter to evaluate the respiratory consequences of N95 mask. Conclusion: Various adverse effects of N95 mask were quoted in literature but respiratory consequences due to reduction in blood oxygen saturation level can be harmful. Thus, to avoid such consequences, precautionary measures are advised to be taken. Key words: N95 mask, SpO2, Blood oxygen saturation, COVID-19.

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the common postoperative complications observed after various periodontal surgeries, and sutures play a vital role in its causation. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate and compare the efficacy of a novel tetracycline-coated suture with triclosan-coated and nonantibacterial-coated sutures on bacterial load reduction to prevent SSI by measuring the zone of inhibition. Materials and Methods: Twenty systemically healthy individuals with moderate chronic periodontitis were included in this study. Fresh unstimulated saliva was collected from each patient and inoculated on three different blood agar plates. Sutures were divided into three groups (Group A: Tetracycline-coated suture, Group B: Triclosan-coated suture, Group C [control group]: Nonantibacterial-coated suture). The antibacterial efficacy of each suture was evaluated by performing agar diffusion test. The zone of inhibition around each suture was calculated, and statistical analysis was performed for the same using Kruskall–Wallis ANOVA test and Mann–Whitney U-test. Results: On intergroup comparison, there was a statistically highly significant difference seen for the zone of inhibition between the groups ( P < 0.01) with the highest values in Group A (14.45 mm), followed by Group B (1.4 mm) and least in Group C (0 mm). Conclusion: Tetracycline-coated suture is more efficacious than triclosan-coated suture to reduce bacterial load and further prevent SSIs. However, in vivo clinical trial is must to prove the same.