An assessment of the incidence of punctures in latex and non-latex dental examination gloves in routine clinical practice.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the puncture resistance of a recently introduced non-latex, nitrile dental glove in comparison with a latex glove worn during routine clinical dental procedures.


METHODS
Dentists in general dental practice working within the UK during 1999.


METHODS
2,020 gloves worn by five general dental practitioners were examined for punctures following standard clinical use by a water inflation method. Procedures undertaken during glove usage and length of time worn were recorded.


RESULTS
Following clinical use, 1.9% of the latex gloves and 5.3% of the nitrile gloves had punctures, a statistically significant difference (P < 0.0001). The puncture resistance of the nitrile gloves was superior to the puncture resistance of previously tested worn non-latex (vinyl) gloves. There was no evidence of a statistically significant difference between operators for the percentage or incidence of punctured gloves (P = 0.787) after correcting for glove type. No statistically significant difference was noted between incidence of puncture in the control, unused gloves (n = 200 for each type) and the gloves examined following clinical use (P = 0.907 for nitrile, P = 0.613 for latex).


CONCLUSIONS
No increase in the number of punctures was noted following clinical use for either glove type. This could be considered to indicate good puncture resistance of the gloves tested in clinical use.
Murray
C A
CA
University of Glasgow Dental School, 378 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3JZ. c.murray@dental.gla.ac.uk
Burke
F J
FJ
McHugh
S
S
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D004868:Equipment Failure; D005932:Gloves, Surgical; D006801:Humans; D019552:Infection Control, Dental; D007840:Latex; D016602:Needlestick Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009570:Nitriles; D010865:Pilot Projects
D007840:Latex; D009570:Nitriles