Effective and efficient infection control in the dental office is essential for the safety of patients and to ensure that productivity does not suffer. The dental staff must do the following before performing any procedure
Hands should be washed before and after coming in contact with the patient.
Staff should always wear gloves for any procedure which involves contact with blood or saliva containing blood or mucus. Gloves are discarded after each patient. Double gloves recommended for patients with HIV, HBV, HCV infection.
Masks must withstand 95% of microorganisms .If patient suffer from airborne disease, mask must be enhanced and fully adaptable to the wearer’s face. In case of eye protectors, side frame should be wide enough to cover the eye adequately.
They must be changed on a daily basis and definitely as soon as they get stained. Surfaces which cannot be sterilised like devices ,electric switches, door handles, drawer knobs, taps, handles and device tubes should be covered with appropriate material (like aluminium foil, self adhesive films etc)
After completion of procedure, instruments are discarded in a container containing disinfectant solution. Manual cleaning not recommended due to the high risk involved in causing injuries and because it is inferior to mechanical cleaning in terms of quality .After cleaning instruments are packed in special bags and taken to the autoclave
Autoclave is by far the best method to sterilise hand pieces .Burs are cleaned first using ultrasonic devices and then sterilised.
An autoclave functions similar to pressure cooker by using steam to kill bacteria, and germs which are resistant to boiling water. These instruments can be reused without the risk of getting infected. There are two types of autoclaves of which the most advanced B –type autoclave is used in Kamala Dental Speciality Hospital.
All the above methods are strictly followed in Kamala Dental Specialty Hospital with the aim of protecting the patients as well as the staff.
