Keeping clean

The continuing pressure on dental practices to comply with regulations, provide high quality clinical and customer care and at the same time run efficient and profitable practices is a daunting task for many practitioners.

Constant time pressure continues to be a reality for NHS and private practices, but the temptation to cut corners with cleaning and disinfecting procedures must be avoided at all costs. Instead, practice managers and those responsible for infection control compliance must search for a solution that delivers swift but effective cleaning and disinfection that can be embedded as part of the practice's infection control procedures.

Within the dental practice both cleaning and disinfection processes are required; cleaning involves the physical removal of soiling matter from surfaces whilst disinfection refers to the inactivation of pathogens. It is important that cleaning takes place before disinfection to ensure that bacteria, proteins and other contaminants are removed from surfaces. This is particularly important where the disinfecting agent is alcohol, a substance that has been shown to 'fix' protein and biofilm.