Advanced Infection Prevention Management Solutions
Environment
Reduce the risk of transmission of pathogenic microorganisms to healthcare workers, patients and visitors.
Efficient infection prevention is a must
Besides the current risk of Sars-CoV2, there are several other pathogenic disease-causing microorganisms that can have a major impact on your health and your patient’s health.
Wearing PPE and strictly following the reprocessing process is therefore a must.
For more useful information about protective measures in the dental practice, please click here.
Ways of transmission
The common mechanisms of transmission in healthcare settings, including dental practices are:
Direct transmission: e.g. direct contact with blood or body organic fluid, soil, inoculation into skin or mucosa, droplets and aerosols
Indirect transmission: e.g. unclean hands inoculation by contaminated instruments, sprays, or splashes from e.g. dental aerosols, syringe, fomite borne, airborne
For specific information about aerosols, please click here.
Ready, steady, read!
Always refer to the manufacturer’s instructions for use before starting to reprocess your used items or items you have bought new.
Sinner’s Circle – The basic principle of cleaning
Whether it is performed automatically or manually, effective cleaning needs water – and four main physical factors that interact with each other:
- Time (exposure time of the other three factors)
- Chemical (usually a cleaning solution)
- Mechanical power (e.g. scrubbing to establish contact with the cleaning solution and remove visible dirt.)
- Temperature (affects, for example, the effectiveness of the cleaning solution)
Proportions of the factors can be altered but at the end must make up a complete pie. More about Sinners’s Cycle: The history of Sinner’s Circle
Legal advice
The reference standards for cleaning are EN ISO 15883-1 and EN ISO 15883-5. “A clean medical device can be defined as visually free of soil and quantified as below specified levels of analytes.” (extract)
Chemical disinfection
Chemical disinfectants contain active substances that kill and/or inactivate germs. Among other things, this effect is based on the chemical disinfectant’s ability to destroy the microbial cell wall, or to inhibit specific metabolic processes of the germs resulting in cell death.
Legal advice
The reference standards for thermal disinfection are (EN ISO 15883-1 and EN ISO 15883-6. ). ‘Disinfection results in a reduction of the number of viable micro-organisms on a product or instrument to a level that has been specified beforehand. This level corresponds to the intended further handling or use of the product.’ (extract)
Only a dried item is a good item
It is of the utmost importance that all items are dried after cleaning and disinfection. Moisture and heat promote the growth and replication of micro-organisms. So instruments for immediate use that are temporarily stored wet become contaminated again. Dryness is also a must prior to packaging and sterilization.
Packaged and sterilized instruments that have not been dried could compromise sterilization. Wet packages are not compatible with sterile storage.
Maintain the maintenance
The product lifetime and the medical device’s ability to operate correctly are mainly determined by mechanical stress during use and chemical influences due to processing.
Maintaining the products after cleaning, disinfection, and drying is therefore an essential part of quality management and the reprocessing process.
Please refer to the related instructions for use to ensure adequate maintenance.
Handpieces in particular need regular lubrication.
Sealing is important!
Packaging with automatic sealing guarantees long-term sterility and automated documentation.
Where items are packaged manually, please pay special attention to the sealing process. Only items that are completely packaged and correctly sealed guarantee sterility after sterilization.
Labelling ensures traceability
Labelling packages is part of the traceability procedure. It will make it possible to link instruments to their sterilization cycle and to the patient's records. The label should identify the sterilizer, the type, and number of the sterilization cycle, the person in charge, the sterilization date and, potentially, the expiry date of the load.
Steam sterilization
Extended steam sterilization is currently the only recommended method to minimize the risk of prion transmission through surgical instruments. Due to the principle of thermal denaturation, steam sterilization is also effective against drug-resistant bacteria.
Quality first – including, where Water is concerned
Steam sterilizers require the use of good quality demineralized water. This will prolong the lifespan not only of your sterilizer, but also of your instruments. Poor quality water (hardness, chlorine) leads to damage, stains and corrosion to both your sterilizer and your instruments.
Ideal conditions for safe storage of sterilized items
Sterile goods must be stored in a dry, dust-free environment.
- The storage area should be clean, regularly maintained and separated from non-sterilized products.
- The shelf life of the sterile goods depends on the storage conditions and the packaging used.
Storage/transport of disinfected items and non-wrapped sterilized items
Disinfected items and non-wrapped sterilized items for immediate use must be transported aseptically.
- Do not place them near the chair, as they may become contaminated by non-sterilized items.
- Do not place them near sinks or in other humid conditions.
- Ensure that they are not touched by or do not come into contact with items that have already been used.
Chemical Disinfection
Chemical disinfectants contain active substances that kill and/or inactivate pathogenic microorganisms. This effect is based, among other things, on the ability of the chemical disinfectant to destroy the microbial cell wall or to inhibit specific metabolic processes of the germs, causing their death or inactivation.
Chemical Disinfectants for Dental Practices
Dental practices must use disinfectants that have a wide pathogenic spectrum (bacteria, viruses, mycobacteria, fungi, yeasts and molds), ensuring High-level disinfection in a very short time. There are specific tests that disinfectants must perform in order to make claims of disinfectant activity against specific pathogens (EN 14885 and related).
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