Bacteria Harboured On Dental Bib Clips After Disinfection
Dental bib clips that have undergone a full disinfection, have been found to still have potentially damaging types of oral bacteria on them.
This news comes after the results of a study carried out by Tufts University School of Dental Medicine concluded there were aerobic and anaerobic bacteria present.
Overall there were twenty bib clips tested before and after treatment and disinfection. The study made use of the most sophisticated technology, a piece of equipment that can identify if any of over three hundred types of the most prevalent bacteria in a person’s mouth were on the clip.
Several types were found and the most worrying is perhaps that the bacteria associated with refractory periodontitis were found on 65% of the clips post disinfection.
The assistant professor at Tufts Department of Endodontics said: ‘The study of bib clips from the hygiene clinic demonstrates that with the current disinfection protocol, specific aerobic and anaerobic bacteria can remain viable on the surfaces of bib clips immediately after disinfection.’
This has prompted some to say that the disinfection process for clips should be much more thorough and enforced more strongly. Many cite other reasons for the bacteria being there.
Such as it coming from; the practitioner’s gloves, a patient’s saliva or the patient’s hands.
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