Things You Can Do to Ensure Your Safety In A Dental Clinic

The most vexing and disappointing thing that you as a patient can face is to become infected in an environment you expect a cure from. Additional infections when visiting a dentist’s chamber is unacceptable. However, cross contamination is not an unusual phenomenon. A well-established dental clinic in Baulkham hills always follows proper protocols to preserve the sterility of the environment within the clinic. Without such protocols, it is not worth it for the patients to visit these clinics. That is the sole reason why every responsible dentist in Baulkham Hills will encourage you to take certain steps to ensure your safety from these invisible but highly contagious threats.

Keep an eye on the gloves

It is mandatory for your dentist to use sterilized gloves when touitching your mouth or the tools that will go into your mouth. It is also of vital importance to ensure that the gloves are disposed after every patient’s examination or treatment. At any good dental clinic in Baulkham Hills there are strict protocols when it comes to gloves that are the potential source of cross contamination and if you want to check whether your dental clinic is following similar protocols ask yourself these questions:-

Is your dentist putting on gloves that come out of a glove dispenser?

Is your dentist touching only the sterile instruments with the gloves on?

Is your dentist disposing the gloves if he has to leave the room with the pair on?

Are there enough disinfectants and hand washes around the clinic?

Any responsible dentist in Baulkham hills will change his gloves with every new patient. That is a mandatory protocol to avoid cross contamination. You should also be inquisitive enough to ask whether gloves have been changed.

Check for autoclave validation

A dental clinic that is dedicated to protect your health and preserve the sterility of the clinic is sure to get an autoclave validation once every week or on a monthly basis. The autoclave is the scientific term for a sterilization machine. It is used to decontaminate tools and instruments. Third party companies send the clinics multiple envelopes that contain bacteria and microorganisms that can cause infection and are relatively difficult to kill. It is the duty of the dentist or the clinic staff to run a test on their autoclaves by trying to disinfect these envelopes in their machine. The envelopes are then mailed back to the third party who in return analyse their package and generate a report of their autoclave’s efficiency.

Ask your dentist for their auto clave report, as a patient you are entitled to this knowledge that whether your dental clinic is fit to be visited at all. If your dentist denies divulging the information or gets offended then it is an indication for you to change your dental clinic.

As a patient your safety lies in your observation. So check the instruments and the disposal systems. Speak up if you are in doubt. Every good dentist in Baulkham Hills will be happy to answer your queries about your health.