AWARENESS ABOUT CROSS INFECTION AMONG DENTISTS

AWARENESS ABOUT CROSS INFECTION AMONG DENTISTS

L. Sri Varsha ^* and R. V. Geetha

Saveetha Dental College, Poonamalle High Road, Velappanchavadi, Chennai - 600077, Tamil Nadu, India.

ABSTRACT: Aim and Objective: A survey on awareness among dentists about cross infection with questionnaires was conducted. Materials and Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was prepared and given to 100 dental students in Saveetha dental college, Chennai. A set of 15 questions were given in the questionnaire. The results were analyzed and demonstrated in the form of pie charts. Results: Out of 100, 69% of the students knew about cross infection, 100% of the students wore mask while doing a procedure, 100% of students changed their gloves after each check-up, 97% of the students washed their hands after degloving and when the students were asked to rate themselves on a scale of 10 based on the awareness they had about nosocomial cross infection, 18% the students rated them between 7-10 and the rest 82% rated them between 5-7. Conclusion: From the results, it was evident that the students had sufficient knowledge about cross-infection and the only need was to apply the knowledge in their daily practice.

Keywords: Cross infection, Awareness, Dentists, Mask, Gloves

INTRODUCTION: Cross infection can be defined as the transmission of infectious agents between patients and staffs within a clinical environment ¹. The spread of infection can occur between people or from a piece of equipment. The most common infection is the nosocomial infection, which is acquired at hospital. Dentists are frequently exposed to infectious materials and organisms via water or air while doing procedures. Cross infection can be prevented by many barriers such as head cap, mask, gloves, and protective eyewear. These are the basic barriers which will help in preventing cross infection.

The route of transmission of infection is of two types- direct and indirect. Direct contact transmission involves a direct body surface-to-body surface contact and physical transfer of microorganisms between a susceptible host and an infected or colonized person, such as when a person performs patient care activities that require direct personal contact. The direct-contact transmission also can occur two patients, with one serving as the source of the infectious micro-organisms and the other as a susceptible host.

Indirect contact transmission involves contact of a susceptible host with a contaminated intermediate object, usually inanimate, such as contaminated instruments, needles, or dressings, or contaminated gloves that are not changed between patients. The most human microbial pathogens are isolated from oral secretion. This can be considered as a valid reason to know about cross infection and to take necessary measures to prevent cross infection.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was conducted as a descriptive survey in Saveetha Dental College, Chennai. A self-administered questionnaire was designed to obtain information about procedures used for the prevention of cross-infection in dental practices and determine the attitudes and perceptions of respondent dental practitioners to their procedures. The questionnaire was given in a printed format among 100 students on the clinical side. The questionnaire requested respondents to provide data about the knowledge and practice of infection control measures.

Respondents were asked if they used each of the following infection control practices: wore and changed gloves and masks during and between patients used autoclaves for sterilisation of hand pieces; used rubber dams; touched sterile instruments with bare hands; used mobile or iPad while wearing gloves; washed their hands after degloving; cleaned their hand-piece after each procedure; if disinfection of dental chair, dental office was necessary; gave goggles to patients during procedure; if the respondents or the patients could be a potential threat if they did not wear head cap, mask or gloves; if they changed saliva ejectors after each patient; they were also asked to rate themselves based on their knowledge about cross infection.

FIG. 1: WEARING GLOVES

RESULTS:

DISCUSSION: Infection control forms an important part of practice for all health care professions and remains one of the most cost-beneficial medical interventions available ². Due to the nature of their profession, dentists and dental assistants should not forget the risk of treating patients with the probability of infectious diseases ³. There are two reasons why dental health care workers must wear operating gloves: to prevent transmission of infection from the operator's hands to the patients and to prevent contact of blood and saliva with the operator's hands ⁴.

In this present study, 100% of dentists preferred to use barrier techniques such as gloves and masks. According to Al-Rabeah and Mohamed ⁵, 100% of dentists use gloves, and 90% of them use masks while treating their patients. Al Ruhaimi ⁶ stated that between 2%-4% of dental professionals in Saudi Arabia never wore gloves when treating patients. In another study, the authors showed that about 90% of dentists in Kuwait wore gloves, 75% wore masks ⁷. Treasure and Treasure ⁸ showed that in New Zealand, 42% of dentists wore gloves, 64.8% wore masks. McCarthy and MacDonald ⁹ showed that 91.8% of dentists in Ontario, Canada, always wore gloves, 74.8% always wore masks.

In this study, 13% of dentists preferred to clean hand-pieces by wiping them with disinfectants, 11% of them stated that they preferred autoclave for sterilize hand-pieces, 71% preferred water and the rest did not follow any specific method. However, it is known to live blood cells, and bacterial and viral particles can survive inside hand-pieces even after thorough disinfection ¹⁰. Many authors have emphasized the hazard of cross-infection by the use of dental instruments ¹¹.

Some of these authors showed that 94% of dentists in Kuwait used an autoclave to sterilize hand pieces ⁷. Kurdyand Fontaine ¹² showed that 30% of dentists in Saudi Arabia had sterilised hand-pieces with autoclave, and 90% of them autoclaved their instruments at the end the day. Al-Rabeah and Mohamed ¹³ stated that 37.90% of dentists autoclaved hand-pieces. According to Miller ¹¹, the most common reason for not sterilizing hand-pieces is the fear of damage to the equipment.

CONCLUSION: From this study, we conclude that dental students have required knowledge about cross infection and its hazardous nature. Although the result of this study favours knowledge about cross-infection among dental students, it also shows that the only need is to apply the knowledge practically. Education program and courses regarding infection control and cross infection need to be added to the curriculum to improve the knowledge of dentists.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Nil

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Nil

REFERENCES:

1. Mutlu S, Porter SR and Scully C: Cross-infection control in dentistry. Erofset, Istanbul, Turkey; 1996.
2. McCarthy GM and MacDonald JK: A comparison of infection control practices of different groups of oral specialists and general dental practitioners. Oral Surg Oral Med Oral Pathol Oral Radiol Endod 1998; 85: 47-54.
3. Yüzbasioglu E, Saraç D, Canbaz S; SinasiSaraç Y and Cengiz S: A survey of cross-infection control procedures: knowledge and attitudes of Turkish dentists. J Appl Oral Sci 2009; 17(6): 565-9.
4. Wood PR: A practical gloving and hand washing regimen for dental practice (letter). Br Dent J 1992; 172: 367-8.
5. Al-Rabeah A and Mohamed AG: Infection control in the private dental sector in Riyadh. Ann Saudi Med 2002; 22(1-2): 13-7.
6. Al-Ruhaimi KA: The response of dental professionals in Saudi Arabia towards hepatitis B vaccine and glove wearing. Odontostomatol Trop 1991; 14: 24-8.
7. Morris E, Hassan FS, Al Nafisi A and Sugathan TN: Infection control knowledge and practices in Kuwait: a survey on oral health care workers. Saudi Dent J 1996; 8: 19-26.
8. Treasure P and Treasure ET: Survey of infection control procedures in New Zealand dental practices. Int Dent J 1994; 44: 342-8.
9. McCarthy GM and MacDonald JK: The infection control practices of general dental practitioners. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 1997; 18: 699-703.
10. Lewis DL, Arens M, Appleton SS, Nakashima K, Ryu J and Boe RK: Cross-contamination potential with dental equipment. Lancet 1992; 340: 1252-4.
11. Miller CH: Sterilization: disciplined microbial control. Dent Clin North Am 1991; 35: 339-55.
12. Kurdy S and Fontaine RE: Survey on infection control in MOH dental clinics, Riyadh Saudi Epidemiol Bull 1997; (3, 4): 21-8.
13. Al-Rabeah A and Mohamed AG: Infection control in the private dental sector in Riyadh. Ann Saudi Med 2002; 22(1-2): 13-7.
    

    ---

    How to cite this article:

    Varsha LS and Geetha RV: Awareness about cross infection among dentists. Int J Life Sci & Rev 2016; 2(10): 153-57. doi: 10.13040/ IJPSR.0975-8232.IJLSR.2(10).153-57.

    ---

    All © 2015 are reserved by International Journal of Life Sciences and Review. This Journal licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

    ---