Decide to Disinfect With DisCide Ultra
The surface disinfectant wipes fight infections in dental practices to keep patients and professionals
healthy and safe
Infectious diseases have always been prominent risks to the safety of patients and dental professionals. That’s why dentistry has stayed at the forefront of
infection control with the help of dentists, microbiologists, and infectious disease experts. Dr. John Molinari, an infectious disease microbiologist, has over 50 years of experience with infection control in dentistry. One of the most important tools for fighting bacteria is surface disinfectants, according to Dr. Molinari. During his 45 years of teaching dentistry, he has educated his students about infection control and the importance of surface disinfectants. The real challenge? Finding products that will effectively wipe out pathogens in the operatory. Palmero has risen to the occasion with their intermediate level DisCide Ultra, a surface disinfectant and decontami-nant cleaner that accelerates the process of disinfecting clinical set-tings. Specifically designed to resist evaporation, its noncorrosive and nonstaining formula leaves no residue.
Dentistry’s History of Fighting Diseases
The dental industry has countered hepatitis B risks, HIV, hepatitis C, and occupational respiratory pathogens like influenza using disinfec-tants, gloves, masks, and other personal protective equipment. In just 60 seconds, DisCide Ultra is effective against TB, viruses (HBV, HCV, RSV, HIV-1), bacteria (MRSA, VRE, E. coli), and fungi (C. albicans).
“Dentistry has always responded to infection challenges, and a huge part of those challenges still includes affected surfaces,” shared Dr. Molinari. “You do your best to protect yourself and your patients, but with surface contamination, there is potential to pick up pathogens like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and other bacteria that can survive on surfaces for extended periods of time.”
DisCide Ultra fights these pathogens and meets OSHA’s blood-borne pathogen standard. The disinfectant is available in spray and wipe formats. Many practices prefer wipes over sprays because of their ease of use and their ability to focus the disinfectant, which reduces the risk of respiratory and eye irritation. Each wipe contains the correct amount of liquid for effective disinfecting.
“This not only cuts down on human error, but also on compromising the integrity of certain dental surfaces,” explained Dr. Molinari. “Using wipes reduces the risk of potentially adversely affecting countertops, shields on lights, or the [upholstery] on chairs.”
Compliance: The Key to Infection Control
The key to ensuring all infection control efforts work properly is for dental professionals to read the manufacturer’s instructions and use products as they were developed, tested, and approved to be used. “What’s great about DisCide Ultra is that it’s one of the few surface disinfectant products that has a very short kill time in terms of tuberculocidal or mycobacterial tuberculocidal activity, which is 1 minute,” noted Dr. Molinari.
Disinfectants should work quickly and keep surfaces wet for the recommended time. According to Dr. Molinari, if a product must remain on a surface for an extended period to be effective, many people won’t use it properly. Palmero’s DisCide Ultra uses a dual-action method—2 antimicrobial chemicals work together in 1 formula. “There are other disinfectant products that have single components that work very well, but one of the things that Palmero did was develop this dual-action effect on the organisms, which cuts down on resistance,” concluded Dr. Molinari. “Dentistry has come so far over the years regarding infection control strategies, and they should be proud of what’s been accomplished."
