PATIENT HEALTH AND SAFETY

At Nosehill Dental Clinic Calgary, we take our sterilization and infection control procedures very seriously. Considering the ever-increasing number of contagious diseases in the news today, many of our patients ask us questions about our sterilization procedures. Be rest assured that we follow our Universal Precautions guidelines for every one of our patients.

The following are some of the methods we employ to ensure your safety in our Calgary dental clinic.

Autoclave (pressurized steam):
All dental instruments are sterilized in a high-pressure steam autoclave. We also sterilize all hand pieces (drills) and burs (drill bits) after each use. This process is the standard of care. Our new computerized autoclave informs us in the event of an incomplete sterilization cycle. As an added assurance we also employ an outside testing agency to ensure that our autoclave is producing sterile instruments.

Chemical Sterilization:
Many of the items we use (plastics) are unable to tolerate the heat produced by steam sterilization. These items are sterilized in chemical solutions, which destroy both bacteria and viruses.

Surface Decontamination:
All surfaces including countertops, dental chairs, stools, light handles, and control buttons are disinfected with chemical solutions. These solutions are formulated to eliminate infectious bacteria and viruses that could otherwise proliferate on these surfaces.

Disposable Items:
Many of the items we use today are discarded after a single use. These items include saliva ejectors, high speed suction tips, drinking cups, rubber cleaning cups, patient bibs, tray covers, sterilization bags, mixing pads, mixing tips, anesthetic carpules, and needle tips. Gloves and masks are also discarded after each use.

Clean Water Delivery System:
There has been a considerable amount of media attention focused on the quality of the water that is delivered from the dental operatory. Television shows such as 20/20 have made claims that bacteria present in the local water supplies can multiply inside the water lines of dental chairs and can pose health risks to the general population. All of our dental chairs are equipped with an independent clean water delivery system. This allows us to bypass the water supply and use only the purest water in our dental units. How do we know it’s pure? We know because we make our own water right here on the premises using either our reverse osmosis system or our ion exchange water deionizer.

If you have any questions about any of the above, we invite you to contact us and we will be happy to explain our procedures in greater depth!