Dental — June 1, 2020

The New Approach in Dental Offices: Work Like Every Patient Has COVID-19

Changing Landscape in the Dental Industry

By nature, dental procedures are performed near the upper respiratory tract and generate aerosol spray. Factor in the sheer number of patients seen per day in an office and you have an environment that is highly conducive to the spread of COVID-19.

Thankfully, dental professionals are among the most knowledgeable when it comes to infection control, the proper use of personal protective equipment (PPE), instrument reprocessing (sterilization) and surface disinfection.

Taking Precaution

As dental practices reopen, working as though every patient who enters the office carries COVID-19 is the safest approach. This will ensure that all procedures and protocols are carefully designed to minimize the risk for both staff and patients.

New measures will likely include limiting the number of patients seen per day, reorganizing waiting rooms to allow for social distancing, changing PPE more frequently and disinfecting more surfaces more thoroughly and more often. And not just with any disinfectant. Given that any patient could be carrying COVID-19, even if they have no symptoms, it is important to use a disinfectant that is EPA/Health Canada approved to kill the human coronavirus and to check its listed contact time.

Using Disinfectant Products

To kill a virus, a disinfectant product cannot be sprayed on and immediately wiped away. Contact time is the time it takes the product to kill all the pathogens listed on its label. This time varies widely between products with many needing to sit on the surface for 5 minutes or more to be effective. In a busy dental office, allowing a disinfectant product to sit for 5 to 10 minutes is highly impractical, so a product with a fast contact time is ideal. Medicom ProSurface disinfectants have a 1-minute kill claim for the human coronavirus.

Given that you will now be cleaning any surface that could have been touched by an infected person, you will also want to choose a disinfectant that is safe on most surfaces. A formulation that does not have a strong odor and does not require gloves or protective eyewear to use is also preferable. Medicom ProSurface disinfectants are safe on most non-porous surfaces, fragrance-free and have no special handling requirements. ProSurface also comes in convenient wipe format.

By working like every patient has COVID-19, changing your PPE more frequently and disinfecting all high-touch surfaces, you can keep your patients, your staff and yourself safe.

How to Thoroughly Disinfect Your Clinic and Operatory

To help your team ensure that all high-touch surfaces in your office are being disinfected between patients, Medicom is pleased to provide this helpful infographic-checklist.