Sterilization and the prevention of cross contamination are extremely crucial in health care. In fact, it is a primary role for all dental assistants. Dental assistants make extensive use of Personal protective equipment (PPE) for all dental surgery procedures. It is therefore important to understand the fact that once PPE has been established, the acknowledgements of clean, semi clean and dirty are put in place in the dental surgery.
How to clean a dental surgery
In the process of cleaning a dental surgery, it is strongly advised that we always start with the cleanest surfaces and gradually proceed to cleaning what is considered to be most dirty or contaminated. Some of the clean zones include sterilized instruments, equipment and other medication. Common contaminated zones around the dental surgery usually include the items which are used in treating patients coupled by each and everything which comes into contact with this zone.
Now that you are familiar with the clean and contaminated zones, it is equally important to acknowledge the fact that: dental surgery cleaning should always start by the application of PPE washing followed by washing and subsequent drying of the hands. In addition to the above, it is equally important to understand and accept the fact that when cleaning the dental surgery, it is very important to observe safety.
An Overview of a dental surgery cleaning Scenario
A patient walks into your dental surgery and has received treatment. As soon as the treatment process is very and the patient has left the room, the dental assistant should immediately collect and throw away all waste materials used in providing treatment in the right waste disposal. While doing this, make sure that care is taken when handling the sharp waste material when disposing of them in the sharp waste container.
After successfully getting rid of the waste, make sure that water and air lines are flushed 20-30 seconds between patients. in addition to this, all instruments and trays used in providing treatment should be taken into the sterilization room, PPE removed and the hands thoroughly washed and then dried.
Next clean PPR should be applied and then the hands washed once more in dental surgery. The dental assistant should make use of disinfectant solution and paper towels. Starting from the cleanest area, glasses, bench tops, the dental assistants chair, the dentist’s chair, patient’s chair, the patient’s tray side as well as the dental assistant’s suction unit and spittoon area should all be thoroughly cleaned. remember once PPE I removed , the hands should be washed and the next patients treatment area set up using new materials, dental instruments and new barriers where need be.
Remember, all materials used in the dental surgery should be properly dispensed of prior to treatment in order to prevent cross contamination. However, in cases where this is not possible, use tweezers to pick any dental instrument from the storage draws etc
In order to carry out proper dental surgery cleaning, it is imperative that the dental assistant has in-depth knowledge of PPE items coupled by details of the workflow of a normal dental surgery.