It's not just teeth that we clean!
Have you ever wondered what happens between one patient leaving the dental chair and the next one arriving?
Well... it's a lot! And it is all to ensure that our patients at Roma Street Dental are treated in a room that is warm and welcoming, but most importantly meets the stringent standards required to minimise the risks of cross-infection.
Once your treatment is completed and the dentist walks you out to the reception area, our amazing dental assistants leap into action to ensure the surgery is emptied and cleaned. This means we sterilise the whole room and includes such duties as:
Removing the used instrument tray to the sterilisation room;
Wiping down all bench spaces and drawer handles with neutral detergent;
All filling materials are reset and packed away;
The treatment chair is wiped down from top to bottom with neutral detergent;
The water pipes in the dental chair are flushed and purged for 3 minutes;
The light and light handle is wiped down with neutral detergent;
The instruments used during your treatment are taken to the sterilisation room for processing. This includes important jobs such as:
Disposing of all single use plastic and paper objects in the bin;
Oiling and individually packaging instruments ready to be sterilised;
Hand scrubbing all metallic instruments to remove large particles;
Submerging the instruments in an ultrasonic cleaner to remove smaller particles by high-frequency pressure waves;
Instruments are then wrapped, numbered and placed into the steam autoclave to be sterilised;
After sterilising, instrument packets are removed from the steriliser and checked to ensure they have all passed the cycle.
Meanwhile the treatment room is being readied for the next patient. The entire surgery is now clean but needs to be reset before starting treatment for another patient. Our team is busy making sure that:
A new sterilised instrument pack is prepared;
A new disposable bib has been laid out;
Patient protective glasses are reset;
Barrier tape is placed on top of all touch surfaces such as the buttons on the chair's control panel
It is only after all of this work that the surgery is ready to go! We are now ready for your appointment.
So call us at Roma Street Dental on (07) 3236 2984 and make your next appointment today. Our team will have the surgery ready for your arrival.
