For healthcare professionals, including dental personnel,
Effective hand hygiene is critical for reducing the risk of transmitting organisms
Clean hands protect you and your patients
Hand hygiene is a general term that applies to routine hand washing with water and plain soap and water
hand washing with water and an antimicrobial soap, cleaning hands with an antiseptic alcohol-based hand rub, and
surgical antisepsis
Using water and an antimicrobial soap or water and non antimicrobial soap followed by an alcohol-based
Surgical hand scrub product with persistent activity in keeping with infection control procedures in the dental practice
Avoid wearing jewelry including watches keep your finger nail tips trimmed to about 1/4 inch
They should be neatly filed with no sharp edges
So when should hand hygiene be performed? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC
Recommends that hand hygiene be performed before and after treating each patient
in other words before putting on gloves and after glove removal as well as following
Ungloved hand contact with a patient's intact skin, before leaving the dental laboratory
After touching contaminated objects, when hands are visibly soiled
After removing gloves that are torn, cut, or punctured during a procedure, and before you replace damaged gloves
When handling contaminated instruments for instrument processing,
always wear utility gloves
never use bare hands
What products can be used? For routine non-surgical procedures, hand hygiene can be performed with plain soap and water
Antimicrobial soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub that has an alcohol
Concentration of 60 to 90%. If your hands are visibly soiled, they must be washed with soap and water
First wet your hands and apply a small amount of liquid soap onto one palm rub vigorously
Until lather appears and continue rubbing for at least 15 seconds
Scrub between your fingers, under your fingernails, and the back of your hands as well as the palms up to your wrists
Then rinse your hands under running water
Dry your hands completely with a disposable towel
If the faucet doesn't have a foot pedal or automatic shutoff
use the towel as a barrier to turn off the faucet. To clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand rub, check the
manufacturer's instructions for how much of the product you should apply.
Some manufacturers simply state to wet hands thoroughly with the product, dispense the alcohol-based hand rub on the palm, and rub your hands together
Covering all surfaces and fingers until your hands are dry
If your hands feel dry after rubbing them together for 10 to 15 seconds,
You most likely have not applied enough product. Is soap and water better than an alcohol-based hand rub?
According to the CDC's recommendations for infection control in dental settings, either product can be used for routine hand hygiene
Provided that there is no visible contamination on the hands
Alcohol-based hand rubs that have an alcohol concentration between 60 and 95 percent are more effective at killing germs
Also, while alcohol-based hand rubs can inactivate many types of microbes, they must be used correctly to be effective
Alcohol-based hand rubs are useful when hand washing facilities are not available or feasible
For example, when you're working in a mobile clinic
Doing routine dental screenings in the school when there is a boil water advisory from your water supplier
And when hands are not visibly soiled
Alcohol hand rubs are also helpful for reducing skin, dryness and irritation
Regardless of which hand hygiene product you use, hands should be completely free of moisture before you put on your gloves
dry hands help reduce skin irritation good hand hygiene
practices combined with wearing gloves are essential elements of infection control and
effective hand hygiene protects you and your patients.