STERILIZATION AND DISINFECTION OF INSTRUMENTS
Dental practice Alta Dent puts the health and safety of its patients at the forefront. In order to protect each patient, as well as the staff of the clinic, high standards of sterilization, disinfection and hygiene have been set.
Every instrument, inspection and everything necessary for working with the patient is undergoing the process of disinfection and sterilization.
Objects that are not subject to the sterilization process are one-off and are used EXCLUSIVE for only one patient. These include: glasses, suckers, compresses, masks, covers for head restraints, gloves, water bottles, needles, syringes, discs, polishing strips etc. … The needles are disposed of in special boxes pertaining to the designated landfills, as well as all medical hazardous waste that is disposed of and stored in accordance with the LAW ON WASTE MANAGEMENT (“Sl. glasnik RS”, br. 36/2009, 88/2010 i 14/2016).
All instruments used after use are mechanically cleaned manually or in an ultrasonic bathtub (without which the instruments can not be washed well)
and washed under the stream of running water. They are then disinfected.
For disinfection, one of the modern disinfectants has bactericidal, bacteriostatic, fungicidal and virucidal effects.
Once removed from the disinfectant, the instruments are washed again with detergent, dried and placed in an autoclaved sterilizer.
There are two basic types of sterilization:
- sterilization with hot air carried out at temperatures of 120-180 ° C for 1.5-6 hours
- sterilization with water vapor under pressure which is carried out at a temperature of 121-134 ° C for 5-20 minutes
Considering that the method of choice in Europe and the world, sterilization by steam under pressure, we use only an autoclaved sterilizer that kills all forms of life and their spores, and sterilization with hot air has been thrown out of practice as inadequate and dysfunctional. We use two devices from that class, from top manufacturers of dental equipment Sirone and Aesculap that meet the strictest standards of the EUROPEAN UNION (EN 0630 i EN 867-5).
Sterilization control is also performed to make sure that our appliances work properly. It can be physical (control of temperature and duration of sterilization), chemical (control strips)
and biological (biological indicators – standardized spore carriers – used twice a year).
Every day, we control the sterilization of control boxes that are archived and are accessible to everyone, and twice a year the sterilization control is carried out with biological indicators carried out by the Belgrade Public Health Institute as one of the institutions that have permission to do so.
In addition to the instruments, everyday disinfect all surfaces with the disinfectant intended for this, as well as the complete workplace after each patient (sputum, hose, needle hose …).
In our office are also set high standards and protocols of general hygienic measures of protection such as proper surgical hand washing, use of mask and eye protection or glasses, wearing prescribed working shoes and clothes.
We pay special attention to hand disinfection that is carried out in accordance with the standards prescribed for it.
Our patients can be sure that when they sit in a dental chair, anything that comes into contact with their mouths and teeth is clean, disinfected and sterile.