Dental Hygiene

As a consumer standing in front of a well orchestrated display of oral care products, one word comes to mind; overwhelming! Added into the already overwhelming list of products is an entire line up of natural oral health care products. Marketing is aimed to have every product promise to deliver something wonderful. That may be the case, however, is that ‘something’ wonderful suited for your clients' needs? Is what your client is putting in their mouth good for them? Even if they are natural products?

There is a current and robust trend to embrace all-natural products from what we eat, what we put in and, on our bodies, and lately, what we use for oral hygiene home care. We, as consumers, assume that natural products are better for our health and the environment. The vast array of dental products on store shelves along with internet and television advertisements flood our patients with the latest and greatest products....

The pre-pandemic patients are getting scheduled, the office is ready with updated infection control policies, the dentist is anxious to return to business as usual. However, the roadblock to retaining or recruiting new dental team members remains exceptionally challenging. Dental offices are still struggling with a labor shortage of hygienists, assistants, and administrative staff. So, what is a dental office to do? What are some solutions to the current dental labor shortage roadblock?

Is poor job satisfaction the reason for the current dental labor shortage? Have dental professionals reached their breaking point with burnout, job dissatisfaction, and their work-life harmony out of balance? Or is the stress of the current COVID-19 pandemic causing the labor shortage in dentistry? What is causing dental professionals to leave the job they had always loved?

A hand hygiene program is embedded within the contents of an office's IPAC Program and is often ill-defined. Dental offices may be performing hand hygiene tasks, have procured the necessary products and posted directions for proper hand hygiene, however, it goes much further than this.

When you're using a manufacturer process challenge device for stream sterilization, does a Type V chemical indicator still need to be placed in every package? The best approach to answering this question is to step back and review the job of the chemical indicators.