Decontaminating dental instruments: testing the effectiveness of selected methods.
The decontamination of dental instruments before sterilization is designed to safeguard dental personnel from exposure to bloodborne pathogens and to remove gross contamination. The authors studied the relative effectiveness of decontamination methods that included ultrasonic cleaning, presoaking with an enzymatic cleaner and dishwashing. Results indicated that the most effective methods involved presoaking followed by cleaning. However, no single procedure eliminated detectable concentrations of blood contamination.
Sanchez
E
E
University of Southern California, School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, USA.
Macdonald
G
G
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001769:Blood; D003124:Colorimetry; D003666:Decontamination / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D003762:Dental Instruments; D003902:Detergents; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014465:Ultrasonics
D003902:Detergents