Many patients entertain worries about whether the sterile dental equipment is being used at their dentist’s office. There have been some troubling news stories about offices that have failed to provide sterile dental equipment, so a certain amount of anxiety about this topic is to be expected. We here at Enhance Dental Centre are proud to say that we hold ourselves to very high standards in regards to using sterile equipment. That being said, we have included a series of tips to allow you to put us and other dentists to the test.
For more info on how seriously we take sterilizing our equipment, watch the above video
Research your dentist
If you want to know more about the hygiene procedures in the office and about whether sterile dental equipment is being used, objective reviews can be very useful. A quick online search should give you a sense of the quality of care provided by your dentist, and will let you know whether there have been any concerning incidents related to a lack of sterile dental equipment.
Look at the orderliness of the office
Your dentist’s operatories should be uncluttered and neatly organized. If there are objects and paperwork lying all over the room, it is less likely that there will be adequately sterile dental equipment.
Look to see what happens with dental instruments
Every instrument should have a sterilized package or wrapped tray, and you should be able to see a sterilization strip on all sterile dental equipment. In addition, your dentist should have a sharps box where used needles and other potentially dangerous and contaminated equipment can be thrown away in a safe, clean manner.
Observe hygiene procedures
Your dentist and all other employees at the dental office should wash their hands before they begin treating you. As a result, there should always be a handy sink with a tap and a soap dispenser. Sterile dental equipment also includes gloves, which should come from clean packaging (and not be lifted from some other surface). In addition, office furniture should complement sterile dental equipment, so the chair, armrests and lamp should be disinfected. If this is not done in front of you, feel free to ask the dentist’s employees if they have done this before you arrived in the room.
The post How Do I Know if the Equipment Being Used at my Dental Office is Sterile? appeared first on Enhance Dental Centre.