Pediatric Patient Control

Infection Control in Pediatric Dentistry Infection control protocol is an essential component in standard of care in dentistry today. In order to ensure patient and provider safety, operators must remain knowledgeable in reducing the exposure and contamination risks to infectious materials. This is paramount, especially in pediatric patients. Pediatric patients are generally more susceptible to infections due to their limited built-up host resistance compared to adult patients. With that said, some guidelines and recommendations for infection control in dental health care setting must be enforced with more caution and care when handling pediatric patients. A dental office can harbor many pathogens that can easily be transmitted to patients

For routine dental examinations and nonsurgical procedures, operators must use water and soap before putting on gloves and after removing gloves, before and after treating each patient, after barehanded touching of contaminated objects such as instruments, and when hands are visibly soiled. Although hand washing is easy and quick, the challenge is being aware of possible recontamination by the operator after hand washing. For example, an operator picking up a napkin off of the ground after handwashing has now re-contaminated their hands and must wash their hands again. Alcohol-based hand rubs may be used in this scenario as long as the operator’s hands are not visibly soiled. Being aware of the status of recontamination is a skill that should be practiced continuously and also incorporated into the operator’s routine in the dental

Emphasis for cleaning and disinfection should be placed on surfaces that are most likely to become contaminated with pathogens, including clinical contact surfaces in the patient-care area. When these surfaces are touched, microorganisms can be transferred to other surfaces, instruments or to the nose, mouth, or eyes of the patients. Specifically in the pediatric clinic at the SDM, carts are used to put instruments due to the nature of open lay out of the clinic. The carts are considered the operator’s working field and are wiped with disinfectant wipes, and patient napkins are used as a barrier to put on top. Once the sterile instruments are opened and laid on the cart, non-sterile objects cannot be set down or else the whole field would become contaminated. Therefore, operator must keep in mind what is put down on the cart in order to protect the sterile environment of the