Infection control is critical in dentistry. A lot of effort goes into keeping you, your dental team, and everyone who enters your office safe. Every office should designate an infection control coordinator (ICC). This coordinator is responsible for ensuring that all duties are fulfilled, supplies are in place, and training is ongoing. It’s a lot of work and requires a multi-page list.
So how do you know if your office is doing all the things?
Here are five things that will give you insight into how seriously your office takes infection control.
Hand Hygiene
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that maintaining hand hygiene is the primary measure to reduce the risk of infection between patients and health care workers. Hand hygiene includes using an alcohol-based hand rub or washing hands with soap and water.
For all routine dental exams and non-surgical procedures, clinicians should perform hand hygiene before putting on gloves and after removing them. They should rub their hands for at least 15 seconds—so pay attention. Do you see them performing hand hygiene before putting on gloves and after removing them? Even better if the office has patients clean their hands to reduce the spread of microorganisms within the office.
Unpacking
Once you are in the chair, look around. It should be clean and tidy. The tray or table should have been set up before you entered, with the necessary supplies. All instruments should be wrapped in sterile bags or sterile wrapping paper. This ensures that the reusable items you use in your mouth are indeed sterile and there is no cross contamination.
It is important to take care to unpack all packages when the clinician begins treatment. In my career, I have sometimes opened instruments beforehand. This not only causes contamination, but it also creates confusion among the team and makes people question whether certain items are sterile. This can easily lead to accidents.
Are you provided with glasses?
Both you and your clinician should wear safety glasses with side shields. Your prescription glasses are not enough; there are countless cases of people who have permanent eye damage because they did not wear safety glasses. Make sure you get goggles and wear them during your visit. Many patients complain about wearing goggles, so many clinicians have stopped using them. But for your safety, it cannot be disputed.
PPE at the Front Desk
When you arrive for your appointment to check in, are there clinical staff at the front desk wearing gowns, gloves, and even masks under their chins? PPE should be kept in the back, preferably in the operating room where the clinician is working. Walking around in PPE can easily lead to cross contamination. Clean PPE often looks like dirty PPE, so how do you tell the difference between clean and dirty?
Backflow
Let’s talk about the mouthpiece—you know, the thing that sucks water and saliva out of your mouth. Never close your mouth. If your doctor tells you to close your mouth, grunt and say “No!” to them. Then, once your mouth is clear, ask them if they use a backflow preventer. It’s best to ask this at the beginning of your visit.
Backflow occurs when the pressure in your mouth is greater than the vacuum pressure. So, when you close the mouthpiece to clean your mouth, you may be sucking in fluid that was stuck in the line from a previous patient.
Bonus question: Water lines
Ask them when the water lines were last tested. The water lines used at your visit are very thin and can easily breed dangerous biofilm. Offices should test their water lines at least quarterly to ensure they meet EPA standards for safe drinking water.
Infection control is time-consuming and expensive for dental offices. Even experienced clinicians need to figure out the steps. But that’s exactly what’s needed to keep you and your dental team safe. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Your health outcomes may depend on it.
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