The acronym H.A.I. is known to mean Hospital Acquired Infections in the healthcare industry.
In most hospital facilities, they have an infection control practitioner that reviews the practices and environments to reduce the risks of cross contaminations or surface borne infections.
In a recent visit to the dentist it became very evident that we are not doing enough preventative measures to prevent what I am calling C.A.I. (Clinically Acquired Infection) with medical clinics. It starts in the waiting room where you are elbow to elbow with other patients, some of which have seasonal influenza and others that are lacking hygiene. The dentist I was visiting had “waiting-room furniture” from an office supply company with wooden arm caps and non-healthcare grade fabrics. These chairs cannot be adequately disinfected and if it were cleaned with approved healthcare disinfectants, they would break down rapidly. How often are the waiting rooms getting disinfected?
You then go into the room and sit in the dental chair that is upholstered and designed to be wiped down between each patient. Was it wiped down after the last patient with disinfectant? The last patient may be carrying a virus that spreads via saliva and when you are working in the mouth, it is a given that there will be some spray in the room. During the winter months, 10 to 20% of all people may be asymptomatic carriers meaning that bacteria, capable of causing serious diseases, are present in the mouth and saliva of patients who may show no symptoms at all.
Possibly the most concerning is the sterilizer room, which in many cases, is in the hallway of the clinic. Recently, C.S.A. has written new standards (Z314-18) around the sterilization of instruments in clinics of which the majority of clinics would miserably fail an accreditation. The hallway model of sterilization in dental clinics is no longer considered acceptable. This model leaves a massive opportunity for cross-contamination, improper storage, and incorrect handling of sterile instruments and devices.
Most dental clinics are doing what they determine to be “due diligence” based on their training and knowledge but is it enough?