Dental Placement Demonstration Plan
Sterilization
Sterilizing Dental Instruments
Step 1: Wearing Personal Protective Equipment
- It is very important to wear all the PPE in this procedure (much the same as other procedures in the clinic), as you will be dealing with unsanitary instruments.
→ The PPE needed for this particular procedure is gloves and a mask (if necessary).
- Instruments should be thoroughly cleaned to remove blood or other debris prior to sterilization. This is because blood or debris on the instruments prevents steam from contacting the instrument surfaces to achieve sterilization.
→ To clean the cassettes used by the dentist and dental hygienists, they have to be placed in a dental disinfector, which is very similar to a dishwasher.
→To clean individual instruments, such as pliers or explorers, you have to scrub them using a disinfectant to wash blood or debris off, before the sterilization step.
Step 3: Wrap all Instruments prior to sterilization
- Packaging instruments is critical in maintaining the sterility of instruments until they are used.
→ The process of wrapping cassettes is just like wrapping gifts, using the special sterilization wrapping papers and steam sterilization indicators, which change colour once sterilized to insure that the cassette is ready to be used.
→ Where as individual instruments are placed directly into a pouch and sealed.
Step 4: Placing Wrapped instruments in the sterilizer (The Lisa)
- This step is not as simple as it seems, because when placing the wrapped cassettes in the sterilizer, you have to make sure they aren't touching each other, otherwise steam will not be able to reach/sterilize those areas.
→ Some individual instruments, which do not need to be wrapped or put in pounches, are directly placed in the sterilizer, according to what they are made of (ex. metals, plastics, rubber).
Wrapped cassettes, using sterilization wrapping paper and tape.
Individual instruments placed in pouches, ready to be sterilized.
Placing wrapped instruments correctly in the sterilizer, with space in between.
East Credit Dental Centre
Email: office@99smile.ca
Website: http://www.99smile.ca
Location: 5100 Terry Fox Way Mississauga, ON L5V 1R7
Phone: 905-997-6453