At Dentistry@68, we pride ourselves on the high quality of our cross-infection control.
This is evident around the whole practice from entry in to our reception area where you will find disinfecting hand gel, to our thoroughly clean, hygienic surgeries where we sterilise instruments.
Our staff are trained to the highest of standards which is regularly kept up to date with Continual Professional Development.
We have policies and protocols in place which are strictly adhered to all around the practice enabling us to sustain this high standard in caring for both our patients and staff.
Our nurses are required to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) which comes in the form of gloves, masks, protective goggles/visors and aprons. These are changed/cleaned routinely between patients to prevent cross-contamination from one patient to another.
Also, between each patient, all used instruments are taken immediately to the sterilisation area for cleaning and all surfaces and equipment are thoroughly wiped down with disinfection wipes. We also use disposable items which are disposed of into the clinical waste bins and replaced with new ones for every patient. Many of the instruments and other items we use for treatments are single use and these items are disposed of at the end of the treatment into the clinical waste.
The instruments are thoroughly cleaned submersed in diluted disinfection fluid, dried and examined under an illuminated magnifying glass before being placed into sterilisation pouches. These are then placed in to the sterilising autoclave which must reach 135 degrees. The autoclaves produce printouts of the data recorded on each cycle stating the correct temperature has been reached. If it is not reached, we are notified of an error and procedures followed to correct it and the instruments put through another cycle.
At the end of a successful sterilisation cycle, the pouches of instruments are cooled and stored away, ready for use by other patients.
All printouts from the autoclaves are recorded on our daily checklist of each surgery and kept for inspection by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). A traceable record must be kept.
We are very pleased to say that we passed our last inspection with the CQC with flying colours and we are also accredited with Denplan Excel.
If you would like to know more about the process please speak to any of the clinical team who will be happy to help.