Sponsored Content: Dentist and infection control expert Marie T. Fluent, DDS, interviews herself in this e-book highlighting the similarities and differences cleaning instruments in a dental practice and cleaning household items.
Instrument processing requires a number of steps that must be performed correctly and consistently to make sure that items are properly prepared for safe patient care. As cleaning is the first step in any decontamination process, the importance of instrument cleaning is paramount. Cleanliness is a major step toward instrument sterility, whereas remaining debris on a dental instrument may interfere with the sterilization process, and cross contamination may occur.
There are similarities and differences between cleaning instruments in a medical/dental setting vs. household kitchen and dish cleaning.