I recently attended a Dental Infection Control course which took place at the Dentisan headquarters in Derby.
This course offers five and a half hours of verifiable CPD in the topic of disinfection and decontamination and is accredited by City & Guilds; it combines theoretical and practical elements for an interactive learning experience designed to increase the awareness of all members of the dental team on infection control. The delegate numbers are limited to ensure each delegate gets the personal attention they need from the course. The learning is split into two distinct parts. Firstly the science behind infection control procedures is explored in a traditional classroom environment;
to ensure a thorough understanding of compliance the content is related directly to the relevant HTM 01-05 guidelines at every stage. This is combined with practical sessions in the venue’s purpose built mock decontamination room for hands-on learning. Leading the course were Bob Newsome and Peter Bacon, respectively Dentisan’s commercial and technical directors.
To begin the day Peter Bacon explained the principle of infection control, the properties and implications of the three distinct pathogen groups and the numerous transmission routes that uncontrolled pathogens can utilise to spread and cause disease. Acutely important, and dealt with at length, is the control of prions. Prions are proteinaceous infectious particles which have a high resistance to regular forms of disinfection; they can be responsible for causing transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs), a group of fatal diseases that can have an incubation period of up to 30 years. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), a fatal neurodegenerative disease, is the best known example of a TSE in the UK; the epidemic in the 1990s is arguably responsible for the intensity of the focus on infection control today.
A particularly problematic infective agent for the dental industry is water, and the incubation of biofilm. Water is an integral element of dental practice, from DUWLs to instrument cleaning. Biofilm forms when planktonic bacteria adhere to a surface and undergo quorum sensing; a protective polysaccharide slime is secreted which then forms a continuous film. A mature biofilm system then releases bacteria and the cycle perpetuates. Peter discussed the dangers of not dealing with biofilm effectively and offered expert advice on the regulatory recommendations and the products and methods available to combat this issue.
Using the venue’s state of the art decontamination room Peter was able to demonstrate the requirements for such areas and practically exhibit the equipment therein. The course covered different options for instrument cleaning depending on what equipment is available and Peter explained how to get optimum results from these methods and comply with the complicated regulations.
The decontamination process begins with cleaning – separating soil by dispersing it in a cleaning solution. Peter explained that scientifically this cleaning stage is simply the combination of thermal energy, physical energy, chemical energy and time. He detailed the different methods of cleaning, beginning with the requirements to optimise manual cleaning and continuing through the range of options such as ultrasonic units and washer disinfectors. Once cleaning has been effected, sterilisation can take place.
Sterilisation is a validated process to kill or inactivate all organisms on a surface including spores and viruses. Peter walked delegates through the options for this process with hands on demonstrations of equipment options in the decontamination room. The description of sterilisation as a ‘validated process’ is particularly important; in light of the legislatively hazardous current climate this course focuses heavily on how to achieve the appropriate levels of documentation for all issues concerning infection control.
Lastly, but a fundamental of any infection control course, Peter tackled the topic of hand hygiene.
‘Dental Infection Control’ is a step by step education in infection control and decontamination, it is a course suitable for the whole dental team as it is both detailed and comprehensive, practical and scientific; small group sizes allow for extensive interaction with the speakers and give delegates the opportunity to get the maximum value out of the expertise at Dentisan.