hygiene in dental office

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nospam@aol.com - 06 Jan 2008 01:06 GMT

My dental office seems to practice good hygiene, everyone uses gloves, masks,
etc. etc. However when my dentist is working on my teeth his gloves get messy
and smelly. I have never seen him rinse them off and they get pretty gross
before he is finished. I have seen a website detailing how to remove surgical
gloves and wonder if dentists use the method described. I have seen my dentist
go directly to another patient after finishing with me and wonder how many of
them remove the gloves as described at:

http://www.engenderhealth.org/IP/surgical/sum5.html

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Steven Bornfeld - 06 Jan 2008 02:19 GMT

> My dental office seems to practice good hygiene, everyone uses gloves, masks,
> etc. etc. However when my dentist is working on my teeth his gloves get messy
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>
> http://www.engenderhealth.org/IP/surgical/sum5.html

    Rather confusing--particularly between step 4 to 5--I was actually
taught how to remove surgical gloves in the OR when I was still a
student. But we don't generally use surgical gloves--we use exam gloves
for non-surgical procedures. They are ambidextrous and have a shorter
cuff so it's difficult to do it the way you would in the OR.
    Really doesn't matter. Unlike surgical gloves, the aim is not
sterility, but eliminating cross-infection. You aren't supposed to
rinse them off--if they get compromised in some way you change them.
    I'm sure most dentists use antimicrobial hand scrubs, but again it
isn't as ritualized as it would be in an OR setting, nor need it be.

Steve

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