There probably isn’t a person in the dental industry who hasn’t thought, while sitting in a dental chair, about the possibility of disease transmission (or even just the common cold) through the medium of dental instruments. The general population also is well aware of the potential for this, especially if they are healthcare workers or remember hearing about dentists and patients being exposed to the HIV virus many years ago. Protecting patients and staff from disease transmission is every dentist’s priority, and training staff to properly and routinely use personal protective equipment (PPEs), cassettes, sterilizers, and instrument washers is paramount.
In the late 1980s, OSHA issued mandatory standard infection control procedures for dentists, followed by Mandatory Bloodborne Pathogens Standards in 1991. Recognizing that these rules really only applied to healthcare workers protecting themselves, versus patients, the CD
C issued dental office infection control regulations in 1993, followed by its Dental Infection Control Guidelines in 2003. All pretty recent, if you consider how long dentistry has been practiced.
As the science of protecting oneself from contracting or passing along anything in the dental office progresses, so does the technology for preventing it. While we trust that these guidelines and associated manufacturer instructions for operating the technology are all being followed, dentists can also rely on groups like OSAP to help them keep up with new information and resources to put these guidelines into action in the office.
The CDC reiterated in its 2016 Summary of Infection Prevention Practices in Dental Settings that cleaning of instruments should be automated and done with either an ultrasonic cleaner or medical-grade washers (versus manual cleaning). Wearing gloves and masks while processing instruments protects staff from fluids and debris, while using cassettes both eliminates injury while cleaning and protects the instruments during the ultrasonic and hand-scrubbing processes.
SciCan offers two medical-grade washers that greatly reduce the risk of exposure to contamination, as well as injuries. The HYDRIM C61w G4 can wash and dry up to 120 dental instruments within 36 minutes. The HYDRIM L can wash up to 200 instruments in about 40 minutes. You might not have to process that many in one day, but think of all the time and extra steps it saves at that volume. Smaller loads can be run multiple times a day, and each time, the washers will use fresh hot water and cleaning solution (unlike ultrasonic cleaners, where the solutions aren’t changed as regularly). Plus both units dry the instruments, so they are ready to put directly into the sterilizer. They also have self-cleaning cycles, another time saver.
These are smart washers, too. Both of them can electronically log their cleaning cycle data. The G4 automatically stores the data, which can be accessed any time you need to document your infection control standards. The HYDRIM units also have WiFi internet connections that help with troubleshooting in the event an error code pops up or they require maintenance.
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