Orthodontic instruments and supplies: Are they semicritical or critical items?

Context: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recently published its "Summary of Infection Prevention Practices in Dental Settings: Basic Expectations for Safe Care", but information concerning compliance, occupational hazards, and specific recommendations for orthodontic facilities is less widely available. Evidence Acquisition: We searched electronic English articles published in PubMed and Google Scholar databases (2010-May 2016) using various combinations of the key indexing terms. Results: 95 articles were selected for comprehensive reading according to the inclusion criteria. Problems and difficulties for orthodontic offices in applying the recommendations have been divided into nine focus areas concerning the quality of supplies, the procedures necessary to adhere to the standard precautions of hand hygiene, the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette, sharps safety, orthodontic instrument reconditioning, cleaning and disinfecting clinical contact surfaces and dental unit water lines, and impression disinfection. Conclusions: On the basis of our experience in a university department of orthodontics and private orthodontic offices, we believe that innovative thinking based on better knowledge, education and training, ergonomics, and task-specific, evidence-based guidelines and resources are required to improve compliance with infection control recommendations.

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“…Recently, some difficulties on reconditioning of elastic chains and ligatures have been reported and discussed by different authors (7,37,68).…”

Section: Instrument Reprocessingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implementation of Recent Infection Prevention Procedures Published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Difficulties and Problems in Orthodontic Offices

Barenghi¹,

Barenghi²,

Blasio

2017

Iran J Ortho

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“…Appropriate cleaning and sterilisation following the standard infection control protocols can prevent infection risk (Kumar et al, 2015; Vassey et al, 2011). Semi-critical items pose a greater risk of disease transfer, even more than the critical or non-critical ones, as various bacterial, viral and fungal infections associated with healthcare have been caused by reusable semi-critical instruments or appliances (Barenghi and Di Blasio, 2017). Hence, it is very important to adhere strictly to guidelines for reusing semi-critical items.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Preformed orthodontic bands usually have three slots for the upper arch (main arch-wire slot, auxiliary slot and headgear tube) and two slots for the lower arch (main arch-wire slot and auxiliary slot). The small lumens of these slots have poorly accessible sections for cleaning and disinfection (Barenghi and Di Blasio, 2017). A study by Sajjanshetty et al (2014) checked the efficiency of the commonly available decontamination methods using the bacterial culture technique and reported that the autoclave is the most effective method of disinfection followed by the glass bead, hot air oven, ultrasonic and finally the manual scrubbing technique.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contamination assessment of orthodontic bands after different pre-cleaning methods at a tertiary care hospital

Irfan

Fida

et al. 2019

J Orthod

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Introduction: Infection control in dentistry is a major concern due to risk of transmission of communicable diseases. The aim of this study is to evaluate and compare the efficacy of various pre-cleaning methods for the tried-in orthodontic bands. Material and methods: An in-vitro experimental study was conducted at the Central Sterilization Services Department (Dental Clinic) and the Microbiology lab at our university hospital. A total of 130 bands were included in our study which comprised 10 controls and the rest were equally divided into three groups according to the pre-cleaning methods, i.e. manual scrubbing, enzymatic solution and a combination of both. The orthodontic bands were incubated in the brain heart infusion broth at 37 °C for five days after pre-cleaning and sterilisation in a steam autoclave and were assessed for any bacterial growth. The chi-square test was applied to determine any significant association between the various pre-cleaning methods and the frequency of bands that showed growth. Effect size was calculated using the phi coefficient. Results: The enzyme method revealed 5% of the sample to exhibit bacterial growth, whereas manual scrubbing and the combination of both showed no growth. There was no statistically significant difference among the three methods ( P = 0.131). Further investigations showed the presence of Staphylococcus non-aureus bacterial species in contaminated bands from group II. Conclusions: All pre-cleaning methods were found to be equally effective in the decontamination of bands. Hence, the tried-in bands can be safely reused after pre-cleaning and sterilisation.

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Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection prevention in orthodontic practice

Blasio¹,

Barenghi²,

Barenghi³

et al. 2020

American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics

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Orthodontic instruments and supplies: Are they semicritical or critical items?

Cited by 4 publications

References 21 publications

Implementation of Recent Infection Prevention Procedures Published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Difficulties and Problems in Orthodontic Offices

Implementation of Recent Infection Prevention Procedures Published by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Difficulties and Problems in Orthodontic Offices

Contamination assessment of orthodontic bands after different pre-cleaning methods at a tertiary care hospital

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection prevention in orthodontic practice

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