Sterilization and Disinfection in a Dental Office Essays

Infection control is a central concept to every practice of health care providers. Its main objective is to prevent the transmission of infectious diseases from both patients and health personnel (Martin et al., 2010). In dental clinic, infection control is a continuous concern for its professionals. They have to contact patients routinely and be exposed to their blood, saliva, dental plaque and pus that may contain infectious pathogens. It is important for the dental professionals to treat these fluids as if they are infectious and special precautions must be taken to handle them. In this essay, I will highlight the scope of infection control practices in dental clinics and the ways through which infectious microorganisms are transmitted

Dirty equipment – having dirty equipment which is not cleaned between patients can spread infection very fast lots of bacteria can be spread on a blood pressure cuff for example.

The general principals for environmental cleaning are to ensure the hospital environment is as clean as possible to reduce the risk of infection, and that all precautions are taken in accordance to legislation and Healthcare policy’s and guidelines. “To prevent the transfer of micro-organisms which may cause infection, and to prevent the transfer of foreign protein which may cause adverse reaction and pose the risk of spreading diseases e.g. vCJD. “

All areas that are being used for healthcare activities should be cleaned with either disinfectant wipes each morning and in between patients/procedures. Equipment should be all new out of the packets and clean. For things more major such as vasectomy’s, minor surgery or family planning clinics, areas should be cleaned everywhere with a disinfectant fluid and also with wipes, gloves should always be worn as well as other PPE such as aprons and hats. All equipment should be new from the packet and only touched by the person who is using

Sterile Processing compromises a service of which the medical and surgical supplies of any medical facility’s equipment and instrumentation- sterile or non-sterile are cleaned, prepared, processed, stored, and distributed throughout the healthcare facility. There are several functions of this highly skilled team perform on a daily basis from decontamination to the sterilization of high risk medical implant devices. They are the first line of defense in infection prevention for any patient receiving medical treatment in healthcare facilities. Japp (2014) affirmed the importance of properly processing medical devices performed by Sterile Processing technicians for patient safety by stating a critical point “Not following the correct process can be detrimental to the patient as the device that we are assuming is safe for the patient may all actually cause severe illness or death” (p.

Ever since I was in middle school, I would tell everyone that I was going to become a dentist. That was my career plan until the summer of my junior year. During that summer, I had the opportunity to do an internship and job shadow Dr. Bradshaw at his private dental office. While observing and talking to the doctor, I realized that I would not enjoy working as a dentist. I still wanted to pursue a career in the dental field so I decided to job shadow the dental hygienists. Watching the dental hygienists perform their duties and interact with patients made me want to pursue a career in dental hygiene. I knew very little about dental hygienists besides the fact that they clean teeth. As I spent time with the dental hygienists, I learned more each day. While researching for this paper, I became knowledgeable on even more information. From reading The Occupational Outlook Handbook and A Career as a Dental

As the number of older Americans continue to rise, along with dental practitioners who are entering retirement, it would benefit this under-served population for the dental profession to develop new models of mid- level care. To expand training as well as additional licensing for dental hygienists, along with more training for other health care professionals would be a great beginning towards improved access to care (Overview of oral health,

While shadowing my fellow upper cohorts during the clinic I had made many observations. Unfortunately I was only able to shadow one clinic, although I observed a lot. Marie was the first student that I was shadowing, she was the CA for the day. We started by stocking the cabinets with the necessities. Marie and I then took the dental tools out of the machines that cleaned, sterilized, and dried them. I was shown that there are two sides in the lab. What I mean by this is that the left side is a dirty side which you should always wear gloves so that you are always protected from the bacteria and germs that the tools carry. Everything on this side has to be handled carefully and you must always wash and sanitize your hands when you are through. The right side is the clean side where the tools and dental accessories are kept so that they stay clean and sterile. Next I was with Jennifer, although she had no patients that day due to a

I am a Dental Assistant student at Community Care College. I am really excited about this core program because it not only focuses on chairside but every aspect of the dental office, including dental laboratory technology.

A dental assistant must be able to work well with others because they are the second pair of hands for the dentist. A dental assistant must be able to understand the dentist and communicate with the dentist to provide proper tools and assistance. Assistants must be very reliable and have excellent manual dexterity so that they can provide the best service to the dentist and to the patient that they are working with. Dental assistants will also have to be knowledgeable on how to properly sterilize and disinfect equipment and instruments and how to set up and lay out instruments and materials for each patient. They must obtain and update patients records as needed and ensure that their patients are comfortable at all times.

As dental hygienists, we will see a variety of patients in our dental office. Each patient will present with a unique medical history. It is essential to know how to treat our patients to the best of our ability, so that they are comfortable and cared for throughout the entire treatment process. They might have a certain disability, disorder, or disease that may alter or affect how we treat them.

Most dental hygiene programs require at least one to two human anatomy classes. A dental hygienist must know how the bone structure of a skull works, including the jaws and teeth structures. I will be taking my first human anatomy class this following semester, and I am quite excited to learn more about the human body. This is one of the many things that first attracted me to becoming a dental hygienist; the medical and scientific aspects of the job are fascinating to me. I am also excited to learn about different oral diseases that the human can experience. It will be my job to teach others about these diseases, such as gingivitis, and what we can do to prevent and treat such

The patient was keen to get her oral hygiene up to a good standard and prevent any

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Molly Koopman, Expanded Function Dental Assisting Program, Miami Jacobs Career College, Springboro, OH 45066

In order to begin a career in dental assisting, one must know history of the profession. Dr. John M. Harris