Sterilization

With increased knowledge of the spread of viruses and bacteria, it’s no wonder people are worried about getting sick from going to the dentist’s office. At Hoffman Dental, we often hear that patients are concerned about the cleanliness of their provider’s clinic. We are proud to say that you need not worry here! We take cleanliness seriously and strictly adhere to all guidelines and recommendations set forth by the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the American Dental Association (ADA), and the Occupational Safety and Health Association (OSHA) to maintain our stellar record of infection control in our dental clinic.

Dental Sterilization Policy

At Hoffman Dental in Upper Arlington, Ohio, we have a Dental Sterilization Policy that all of our staff follows day-in and day-out. It includes a list of standard precautions that we take regularly, along with specific guidelines provided by the ADA, the CDC, and OSHA.

Standard Precautions

There are several precautions we take regularly to maintain our high standard of cleanliness and sterilization. They include:

  • Hand hygiene : It’s no secret that washing your hands regularly can prevent you from getting sick, but it’s even more important in a medical environment! We use hospital-grade disinfectant soap to wash our hands before and after we see every patient, before we put on gloves, and after we remove the gloves and any time our hands become soiled at all.
  • Use of PPE : PPE, or personal protection equipment, is important to protecting the health of our patients and staff alike. We use new sterile gloves for every patient, and our staff always wears masks during treatment. We also use protective gowns and face shields as needed, mostly during oral surgery.
  • Surface disinfecting : At Hoffman Dental, we clean all surfaces with EPA-approved chemicals to prevent the spread of germs. Between every appointment, we wipe down dental lights and switches, handles, computer equipment, and countertops.

Sterilization of dental instruments

If you’ve had a routine dental check-up and cleaning before, you know how many instruments we use to get your teeth sparkling clean. But before we can use a dental mirror, probe, a fine scaler, or dental forceps, they need to be sparkling clean, too!

To get them ready for use in each patient’s mouth, we put all of our instruments into dental sterilization equipment per the ADA, CDC, and OSHA guidelines. That means putting all appropriate tools into our dental autoclave machine, also known as a dental steam sterilizer. The autoclave uses high temperatures up to 270 degrees Fahrenheit to sterilize dental instruments and remove any bacteria and viruses. For items that cannot go in the autoclave, we use the cold sterilization technique. This involves placing tools into a disinfecting solution for three to six hours to sterilize it.

At Hoffman Dental in Upper Arlington, Ohio, you can be sure that when you visit us, your visit will be safe and comfortable. We hope that learning a bit more about how we provide infection control in our dental office makes you feel informed and ready to make the decision to get your dental needs met with us. We look forward to treating you! Please give us a call today to make an appointment.