Dental Infection Control

Excerpt

Infection control in dentistry is an ever-growing perturbation. Dental patients are high-risk patients relative to their potential to transmit as well as acquire an infectious disease. An equal concern has been exhibited for cross-contamination and disease transmission from patient to patient. When addressing these problems, there are two identifiable considerations: (1) how the dentist and his staff can be safeguarded from disease acquisition and disease transmission to patients and (2) what steps should be taken to help minimize cross-contamination with instrumentation. The constant dangers of cross-contamination in dental practice among patients, dentists, and ancillary staff have been pointed out by Murray and Slack; they reported the possibility of absorbent cotton pledgets, air syringes, glass slabs, and hand towels acting as sources of contamination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in its infection control guidelines, indicated that dental impressions are potential sources of cross-contamination and should be handled in a manner that prevents exposure to practitioners, patients, and the environment. Based on the corroboration of data and regulation confined to the province, appreciative standards of Dental Infection Control and Occupational Safety must be followed by the dental team for patient and dental healthcare safety. Iniatially the dentistry was routinely done without protective gears but after 1991 dental personnel were required to wear gloves, masks ,gown, and protective eyeware . Dentistry is one of the most exposed professions to respiratory diseases eg covid-19.