Whether
they’re filling cavities, performing root canals, or just cleaning patients’
teeth, dental professionals are trusted with the health and care of their
patients’ mouths and providing essential services we cannot perform ourselves. However,
how often do we think about the circumstances in which dental professionals work
and what it takes to keep that environment clean and infection-free? For your
knowledge, here is what you should know about infection control in a dental
office.
Equipment and Instrument Cleaning
The CDC
makes it clear how dental equipment and instruments should be disinfected and cleaned.
Equipment and instruments are classified using one to three groups based on the
risk of transmitting infections:
1. Critical
: This category designates instruments that
are used for penetrating bone or soft tissue and that encounter blood as well. Instruments
with this designation include scalpels, scalers, bone chisels, and forceps.
Critical instruments must be sterilized following every use via autoclaving,
chemical/heat vapor, or dry heat.
2. Semi-critical
:
These
instruments encounter non-dry skin or mucous membranes, including the inside of
cheeks. Such instruments include amalgam condensers, mirrors, and reusable
impression trays, and they should be sterilized after every use via dry heat.
3. Non-critical
:
These
types of instruments only touch intact skin, including X-ray heads, pulse
oximeters, and blood pressure cuffs. These instruments may be reused in between
patients once they’ve received a low-level or intermediate-level disinfection.
Hand Washing
The
act of hand washing is crucial for the prevention of diseases spreading. Alcohol-based
hand-sanitizing solutions, per the CDC, can be utilized most of the time except
whenever hands are visibly covered in debris or dirt. Dental professionals with
visibly dirtied hands need to wash with water and soap, with the CDC
recommending hand washing in one of four scenarios:
- The dental professional’s hands are clearly and visibly
dirtied.
- The dentist has touched equipment with bare hands that could
be contaminated by saliva, blood, and similar secretions.
- After and before the dentist has treated a patient.
- Before the dentist has put gloves on and immediately after
their removal.
Office Cleanliness and Surface Contamination
Infection
prevention and surface contamination applies
to much more than dental instruments. Dental offices, per the CDC, contain two kinds
of surfaces—housekeeping surfaces and clinical contact surfaces. Regarding
housekeeping surfaces, this includes walls, sinks, and floors, and research suggests
they offer little to no risk of contamination as long as they are regularly
cleaned with water and detergent. Floors, however, must be cleaned more
regularly than other housekeeping surfaces, per the CDC.
For clinical
contact surfaces, these include items like drawer handles, light handles,
countertops, chairs, faucet handles, and other objects patients or dentists might
touch during procedures. If they’re not protected via barriers like sheets,
bags, or plastic wrap, clinical contact surfaces must be cleaned in between
patients using EPA-registered hospital disinfectants. These surfaces should be
cleaned when workdays have ended.
Training and Education
Dental
offices offer ongoing training and education to employees in order to ensure procedures
and policies are correctly practiced. The CDC also recommends that training
cover safety rules for both patients and employees. As with any business, dental
offices need to maintain records of cleanliness and safety training, as is required
by state and federal governments.
If you
are avoiding the dentist due to the high costs of dental care, our NH
supplemental dental insurance
can help. To learn more about our plans or to
sign up for coverage, click here.
