Humans - an overcrowded contingent on this planet are parasitically stripping it bare like uncontrollable locusts. Savage, but intelligent, the engorged pustules of our destructive legacy are bursting to render our children's' inheritance both uninhabitable and inhospitable. Yet our excessive numbers pitifully pale into a vacuum against the marauding armies of microorganisms currently invading and pervading your surgeries. Yes, there's a reason protocol demands that your surgery is wiped down thoroughly tomorrow morning; the little critters are there now. Of course you left it clean (using every disinfectant product in your inventory) but these guys have the capacity to multiply, regenerate and clone themselves at a rate that would frankly have Imperial storm troopers baying with envy. They're savage too, and if they had enough intelligence, they'd be laughing at us.
Watching a globule of blood abseiling down your patient's cheek and disembarking onto the fabric of the headrest is not a calming sight. You still have a minor construction project to finish suturing your patient back together again, and all the while this truant droplet of blood is etching its haemoglobin into posterity for the next occupant of your chair to find. It's hard enough to work within cross-infection protocols (as if bound in an invisible straitjacket, forbidden any contact with any surface) and now you're desperate to clean that haemolytic distraction from the headrest and save face without actually using your limbs to assist you. Not easy, is it?
The proverbial elephant in the room is much smaller than you are and undoubtedly more manageable. Bacteria infiltrate and infect our space via aerosol, surface and water, presenting a disinfection challenge of ecological proportions. Fortunately, what we lack in number, we make up for in chemistry, and the formidable array of sprays and wipes at our disposal render the microbial advance ineffectual. No trivial feat, as having a sterile surgery is paramount to safe practice, for the patient and the dental professionals in the room.
While everyone is dutifully submerged in the delicacies of their work, it is easy to become oblivious to the chemical mist penetrating your mask and testing your immunity. The aerosol of disease emanating from the patient below you knows no boundaries and has no compassion. It is far more parasitic than you are, intending only to colonise the next niche for its innumerable progeny. You really can't fault the patient for being kind enough to bring visitors (charitable a gesture as that may have been) but you do have to be on guard and fully prepared to inoculate your theatre from any microbial penetration.
With so much at stake, détente with the microorganisms is not an option. We have to eliminate them with a xenophobic persistence. All surfaces, gloves and hands are at risk, and thus present easy conduits for microbial transfer. Without a fastidious attitude to disinfection, contagion is insidious and assured. Disinfection therefore requires the utmost attention before and after every patient, and before and after every working day.
Logic begets consistency, and having a logical system of disinfection delivers a consistent standard of cleaning and makes the very process of executing it all the more easier. Colour coding materials, like the range from Durr Dental, enable an ergonomic clarity that all members of the dental team can benefit from. Whether it's their range of hygiene units, including Hygocare and Hygowipe, or hand disinfection solutions, Durr has raised the bar and set the standard by which everyone but bacteria should adhere to. Those unwelcome little bugs won't be sticking to very much with such a replete defence to stop them.
Prevention is obviously better than cure, and everything from pedal operated bins to cleansable covers on keyboards play their role. Protective eyewear is a must and disposable sheaths on all handles are essential. However, despite all contingencies, some bacterial ingress is inevitable, and thus stringent disinfection procedures are necessary. Durr Dental's copious anti-microbial agents faithfully man the ramparts to defend your surgery as the last bastion of cleanliness within the building. The microbes may overstay their welcome, but they cannot overwhelm us.
In the event of a nuclear winter, only the microorganisms may survive, an unfortunate testament to their resilience. Until humans are crazy enough to cause such an unseasonal freeze, we have little choice but to exercise unwavering stoicism in face of this unending threat. With the right tools and a fully attuned team, disinfection becomes less a chore and more a mission to enhance our practise of dentistry. The war on bugs may be a daily ritual, but with such effective disinfectants in our corner, I'd say we have more than a fighting chance.