#dentisan

As a Research and Development Chemist at dentisan, I’m a big fan of Biocleanse Ultra wipes for most effective cleaning and disinfection – especially as they’re alcohol free. Why? Well, alcohol-based wipes have been shown to fix protein contamination to instruments and surfaces, and I want instruments and surfaces to be as clean as possible. As it states in HTM01-05 section 6.57:

‘ The use of disinfectant or detergent will reduce contamination on surfaces. If there is obvious blood contamination, the presence of protein will compromise the efficacy of alcohol-based wipes.

NOTE: Alcohol has been shown to bind blood and protein to stainless steel. The use of alcohol with dental instruments should therefore be avoided.’

So, alcohol-free Biocleanse Ultra wipes’ unique formula will help keep your practice clean and prevent cross-contamination.

 One thing I particularly like about Biocleanse Ultra wipes is that they are available in a re-usable tub. However, it’s important to follow our procedure when refilling the tub once it’s empty, to ensure the new wipes don’t get contaminated by any residues or dirt that have built up from handling the tub, so I’ve put together an easy step-by-step guide for you.

 N.B. Make sure you’re wearing gloves before you start!

 1.       Grab your refill bag of wipes.

2.       Unscrew the lid from the tub and remove the empty bag and discard.

3.       Wash the lid and empty tub under hot running water inside and out.

4.       Make sure the tub and lid are dried thoroughly.

5.       Now to the refill bag: cut along the dotted line with scissors to open it (do not tear it by hand!).

6.       Squeeze the bag to get rid of any excess air, then insert the bag containing the wipes into the new tub – do not take the wipes out of the refill bag as this can expose the wipes to contaminants.

7.       Pull the first wipe up from the middle of the bag and carefully feed it through the hole in the middle of the lid.

8.       Replace the lid, tuck the top of the wipe under the liftable tab and secure the lid firmly.

9.       Now you’re ready to go!

10.   Remember to close the lid each time after removing a wipe to make sure the wipes stay moist in the tub.

 And that’s all there is to it!

 Grab > empty > hot wash > dry > re-fill > feed > close lid > done!

 I look forward to sharing some more useful tips with you in my next blog…

 Laura

I take my life as a scientist very seriously – for me it’s not just a 9 to 5 but something that falls outside those hours too. I’m also a real advocate of continuing education and love being part of what’s developing and new in the world of chemistry.

Some years ago, I became a member of the Royal Society of Chemistry – the UK’s professional body for chemical scientists which exists to advance excellence in the chemical sciences. With 54,000 members worldwide and an international publishing business, the RSC brings together industry and academia, promoting collaboration and innovation. Being part of this organisation gives me access to conferences and events, interest groups and experts in other fields of the chemical sciences.

There are different categories of membership for the Royal Society of Chemistry and I’m a Chartered Chemist and Chartered Scientist. The route I took was to apply for a two-year Personal Development Programme, which includes working towards achieving 12 attributes. At the end of the two years, my report and portfolio of evidence were submitted and scrutinised by one of the boards at the Royal Society of Chemistry. Chartered status is not necessarily academic, it’s more about my working life – actually putting into practice the skills that I have learned and need to do my job. It means that in my working life I’ve reached a certain standard and provided evidence that I can work to that standard.

 A few thoughts on current dental education

Education is quite dear to my heart, so I’m very keen for dental practices to make this a priority for their staff. The dentisan decontamination courses we provide cover everything from the theory to the practice of decontamination. I find that teaching people to understand the why of what they’re doing is very beneficial to the learning process. In our courses we are trying to teach the delegates about what causes the problems, what contamination is, where it comes from, etc. We don’t want dental nurses to do things just because they’ve been told to do it that way; we want people to follow the guidance but also understand why. As a technical person, I always want to understand the ‘why’ for everything!

 I admit to being concerned about how little education dental nurses seem to get in some areas, including decontamination. The GDC recommends that dental nurses do five hours’ Core CPD in decontamination in every five-year cycle, but because I work in infection control and know how much detail there is in the subject, that doesn’t seem like much at all. Obviously, dentisan provides a variety of different courses, delivered in different ways, but, sadly, I don’t think there’s a lot of onus for dental nurses to take up education, even though it’s very valuable.

 As a scientist with a passion for education, I like to inspire others to continue to learn, too. If the work I do at dentisan with my team and the effectiveness of the decon courses we run can encourage dental professionals to become better educated in this area, then that makes my job even more worthwhile.

As a Research and Development Chemist at dentisan, I’d like to tell you a bit about what I do and what it’s like to be an integral part of a real scientific team developing infection prevention products for the dental profession.

 I was always really interested in science at school and had plans to do A levels in Chemistry, Biology and Maths, but when a vacancy arose at Quadralene, the parent company of dentisan, it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss, and I’ve never looked back.

The company supported me through further education, and ultimately, I got my BSc in Applied Chemistry through a day-release scheme.

 My job day today is very broad, and I love the variety. A big part of the job involves bench research for the development and testing of products – we continually test and re-test all dentisan’s products to verify their efficacy. I also spend a lot of time on product classification work, health and safety, and producing data sheets and label text that meets dental regulatory requirements. One area that really interests me is developing manufacturing methods that best ensure consistent quality control of all the products we produce at dentisan.

New products

I love getting involved in the initial stages of product development. Some products are initially commercial concepts, whilst others are driven by the technical department because we can see a use for a technology or can see that a product is being used in a wider healthcare environment and would make an easy and useful transition into dentistry.

 In my department, we get involved in the whole lifecycle of the product. We conceive the idea, develop the product, research and test it – the whole process from concept to commercial production is part of our remit. We also offer customer support once products are in the market as well. The variety of my job is what makes it so fascinating.

 We undertake a range of tests on products during development. For medical devices, the tests are rigorous. For CE-marked products, and particularly for the Class 2-marked products, we have to gather a lot of evidence to support all our claims. For instance, although labelling would be considered one of the last steps before a product is launched, it’s impossible to write the label text at the end of the process because if a claim is to be made on the label then we need to have evidence to support it. Depending on the claim, a simple test or series of tests spanning several months might be required, all of which needs to be considered before the project begins.

Infection control: Healthcare to Dental care

I sometimes wonder if there are any areas of infection control that are applied in healthcare environments that could be introduced to dentistry, but I’ve found that most of the areas have already been incorporated. Of course, hand hygiene was a big thing at one time, but that’s now been integrated into HTM 01-05.

Last year HTM 01-01 was revised, establishing a moving towards a residue limit for proteins that goes beyond swabbing. Now this has been established in a wider healthcare environment, I imagine that the next version of HTM 01-05 might start to align itself with this. Experience tells us that compliance that gets absorbed into acute medical care will eventually work its way into dental guidance.

 Whatever happens, dental professionals can be sure that we are keeping ahead of the game to supply products that work and fully comply with all the relevant regulations.

Testing and validation of decontamination and sterilisation equipment is a vital aspect of every practice’s decontamination procedures and should be clearly laid down in their infection control policy. This equipment is at the forefront of the battle against protein residues and cross contamination so ensuring it is operating according to manufacturers’ specifications is an important first step in identifying possible shortfalls in performance.

Validation provides a guarantee that decontamination equipment is working to manufacturer’s specifications, showing it complies with CE-marking under the terms of the Medical Devices regulations and that all instruments cleaned by the equipment are reprocessed reliably and consistently.

 Testing, on the other hand refers to the routine tests that must be carried out on a daily, weekly or quarterly basis to ensure that equipment meets validated parameters. The results of these tests should be accurately recorded to provide the evidence of compliance that is required by the relevant regulatory bodies.

For example, a weekly protein residue test is a simple but crucial test designed to detect residual proteins left behind on dental instruments and therefore assess the effectiveness of the equipment in terms of protein removal. This test is carried out on instruments cleaned in both washer disinfectors and ultrasonic baths. Washer disinfectors and ultrasonic baths should also be routinely checked, according to manufacturers’ instructions using a simple efficacy, or soil test, which identifies any problems with cleaning processes such as clogged or broken spray arms or deficiencies in the detergent used.

 Dentisan has long been at the forefront of testing and validation requirements and offers a full range of tests that a practice needs to fully audit the performance of washer disinfectors, ultrasonic cleaners and autoclaves on a daily, weekly and quarterly basis. Distributed via Henry Schein Dental, dentisan’s complete range of testing and validation indicators, provides total peace of mind and evidence of compliance for every dental practice.

News: Meet our infection control specialists

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