Health and safety in dental offices
Due to the large number of patients who visit dental offices, the dentist and their team apply rigorous infection prevention measures to ensure a safe environment for everyone.
The dentist and their team observe universal or standard precautions: these are all the procedures that must be followed by all personnel, for all patients. Applying them reduces the risk of contagion, contamination and infection from one person to another. Therefore, the risk of transmission of infections in dental offices is very low and cases of transmission are very rare.
The following universal precaution measures help to prevent the transmission of infections in dental offices. They not only protect patients, but also the dentist and members of their team.
Physical barriers
- Gloves serve as a barrier between the patient’s saliva, blood and mucous and the dentist’s, hygienist’s and assistant’s hands. They are thrown out after each patient’s treatment or every time the dentist or another member of the care team leaves the work room.
- Masks protect the dentist, hygienist and assistant from microbes in the fine water droplets suspended in the air when they are working in the patient’s mouth. Masks also protect the patient from any airborne infection, such as the flu.
- Goggles protect the caregiver’s eyes from potential scratches, injuries or contaminated splashes that could infect their eyes. Goggles may also be worn by the patient during certain dental treatments.
- Gowns prevent the dental team members’ clothing from becoming contaminated and germs from being transported out of the workplace.
Good practices
- Hands are washed with soap before and after wearing gloves, between each patient and when the dentist moves from one work room to another.
- Sterilization is a process that destroys microorganisms. All instruments that come into contact with patients’ mouths are sterilized before each use. Do not hesitate to ask the dentist questions about this. They can explain to you how they ensure that the instruments are properly sterilized (safety seal on disposable needles, indicator paper on instrument packaging which changes colour after sterilization, external laboratories to test sterilizer efficiency, etc.).
- Work surfaces (chair, armchair, tray, counter, etc.) are disinfected between each patient. This destroys the vast majority of microorganisms that can transmit disease.
- The use of disposable material is necessary since certain instruments and equipment, such as gloves, masks, needles, compresses, cotton rolls, cannot be sterilized, washed or reused.