Your dentist in Richardson is always taking safety precautions to ensure that his practice is clean. In fact, there are strict guidelines being followed regarding sanitation and they are always being updated. There are many things that your dental team is doing to keep the office safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the most important is making sure that their hands are clean at all times. Continue reading to learn more about hand cleanliness as well as personal hygiene standards for the dental staff during the pandemic.
How Do Healthcare Workers Keep Their Hands Clean?
Your dental team always wears a disposable pair of gloves when working in patient’s mouths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention claims that using gloves reduces hand contamination by 70-80%! But that’s just the beginning of it. They are frequently washing their hands throughout the day including these times:
- Before contact with patients
- After touching a patient’s mouth or other parts of the body
- After removing gloves
- After handling any body fluids or specimens
Anyone working in the healthcare field is also mindful to do a thorough job when washing their hands. In order to ensure that they are ready to get to work they must wash their hands for at least 20 seconds. Even when they’re busy, it’s important that healthcare workers, like your dental team, take the time to wash their hands for a long enough time with warm water to kill germs. They scrub soap between their fingers, underneath their nails, and even up their forearms. No spots can be missed.
When they finish rinsing all of the soap off, they must dry their hands completely. When moisture is left on the hands, certain bacteria and microorganisms can still survive. It’s important for your dental team to remove any excess water so that they are not passing germs onto their patients.
What Other Personal Hygiene Standards Does My Dentist Abide By?
Handwashing and gloves are important, but there are other important steps to ensure that patients are being treated safely:
- Keeping hair out of the way: If a member of your dental staff has long hair, they are asked to tie it up. This is because longer hair has a greater surface area that can collect germs.
- Refraining from wearing jewelry: Things like rings, bracelets, and watches can accumulate bacteria and make it difficult to wash correctly.
- Avoiding long or fake nails: As nice as they can look when they’re cared for, longer nails are not idea for the healthcare industry. They can easily pick up dirt and bacteria and give them a place to grow.
Handwashing is one of the most important steps you can take to keep yourself and others healthy, especially during a pandemic. Next time you come into the office you can rest assured knowing that your dental team is doing everything they can to keep you safe!
About the Author
At Shwarts Family Dentistry, Dr. Ellis Shwarts and his team are committed to providing quality dental care in a safe environment. He completed his doctorate at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. Dr. Shwarts and his team have taken many new dental safety protocols to keep patients protected during the COVID-19 pandemic. For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit his website or call (972) 437-6035.