Hi guys. Infection control is at the top of all of our minds these days. I wanted to take a moment to share with you how we at Smile Studios keep our patients and our teens safe. We’ve invested in the best disinfection and sanitation systems out there. Unlike most dental offices, we have a complete sanitation system that is built into our dental chair. After each patient, all surfaces are wiped out with the medical grade disinfectants. The next part is what makes our office really unique is by lifting this panel, we can see there are built-in sanitation adaptors. We would
take our dental instruments such as this one that we use for your cleanings and plug them into a sanitation adapter. Similarly we would plug in the remaining
instruments and run a sanitation cycle to decontaminate the water lines and prevent infection, we need treatment water is essential to protecting the health of our patients. Once we add this disinfectant to a sanitation system, its continually added to our treatment water to prevent the growth of bacteria and viruses in the
water lines. Additionally, the sanitation system is equipped with an air gap to avoid backflow and cross bank contamination after every patient the suction hoses and their wastewater lines must be claimed. We take the suction throw this
part away to never use again. Open this to reveal our adopters for sanitation;
easily plug this in, press a button and mingle feed to decontaminate will repeat the process for each of the sections and what this will do is prevent the growth of any virus or bacteria in our lines. What we’ve all heard a lot lately is PPE which stands for personal protective equipment that includes our gloves or masks our air and our lab job uses our PPE is crucial in protecting both our patients and our team members. At smile studios we promise to continue to invest in technology to keep our patients safe and our community healthy.
At Smile Studios, we are committed to protecting our patients while providing you with a safe and relaxing environment. Below are the steps we already did to protect you, and the new steps we have taken to ensure your safety in the COVID-19 era. We continue to set the standard for safety for dental care, and ensure we go above and beyond the CDC guidelines.
What we have already done:
- PPE worn during patient care: CDC-compliant Personal Protective Equipment, including masks, gloves, protective eyewear, and lab jacket.
- Separate, closed-off treatment rooms to minimize cross-contamination between patients.
- Advanced Treatment Chairs with automated flushing/disinfecting of the air and water lines between each and every patient to prevent cross-contamination.
- All surfaces (treatment chairs, countertops, dental equipment, door handles) are disinfected with a medical-grade disinfectant before each patient is seated.
- Treatment water is treated to eliminate any pathogens.
- Rubber Dam Isolation is used to minimize the spread of airborne pathogens and to protect the airway of the patient.
- Dental instruments are sterilized in an autoclave, which uses high temperature and pressure to steam sterilize. The autoclave’s efficacy is tested frequently with testing strips.
- Supplies that cannot be sterilized are disposed of.
Our enhanced COVID-19 safety measures:
- PPE is enhanced to include N95s and head coverings.
- Enhanced COVID-specific OSHA training for your whole Smile Studios Dental Team.
- Pre-screening of patients to identify those who may be ill.
- Taking temperatures of patients and employees when they arrive, anyone with a fever will be asked to go home.
- Advanced Extraoral Suctioning Device to minimize aerosols during dental procedures. This minimizes the spread of airborne pathogens such as COVID-19.
- Fewer patients will be scheduled to maintain social distancing and allow more time for enhanced disinfection between patients.
- You will be asked to arrive on time, rather than early, to your appointment to allow for fewer people in the office and to encourage social distancing.
Dr. Tina answers the question,
“Is it Safe to Go the Dentist?”— Redmond Reporter
Sanitation and Infection Control in the Dental Office
Infection Control in the Dental Office–How Do We Keep You Safe?
With COVID-19, we are frequently asked about our sterilization and disinfection process. Even before COVID-19, we at Smile Studios invested in the most advanced sterilization labs and automated treatment centers to ensure you and your families safety at the dental office. We have produced videos below to answer all your concerns about the sterilization of your instruments, sanitation and disinfection methods of the dental equipment and tubing.
How do you sterilize dental instruments?
Hi guys. Alyssa here with Smile Studios. Some of you may be wondering how our sterilization process works. So I wanted to make a short video showing you how. First I take all the dirty instruments that may be used in your appointment and I place it in the ultrasonic which is a high frequency sound wave that detaches any debris that might be on the instruments. Next i will place all those dirty instruments into a sterilization pouch which then goes into the autoclave which uses a high pressurized steam that kills any bacteria or viruses that might be on the instrument, and how you know those instruments are disinfected after i take them out is by a color indicator on the top of the sterilization pouch, which shows gray or black. So that’s how you know your instruments are disinfected and sterile. Thank you for watching and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Bye
Have you wondered how we sterilize your dental instruments? In this video, we show you how we sterilize your dental instruments at Smile Studios. We also show you how you can tell if your dental instruments were properly sterilized in an autoclave?
How do you sanitize the dental equipment and tubing?
After each patient, all surfaces are wiped down with a medical grade disinfectant. The next part is what makes our office really unique. By lifting this panel we can see there are built-in sanitation adapters. We would take our dental instruments such as this one that we use for your cleanings, and plug them into the sanitation adapter. Similarly we would plug in the remaining instruments and run a sanitation cycle to decontaminate the water lines and prevent infection. This simple easy process allows us to be 100% compliance with CDC guidelines after each and every patient. This is what i would want for my family and this is what I want for my patients and for my team members
Ever wonder if the tubing and equipment used to clean your teeth is disinfected? At Smile Studios Redmond, we use the most advanced treatment centers that have automated built-in sanitation systems to achieve 100% compliance with CDC guidelines for disinfection in between EVERY patient.
How do you sanitize the suction hose and wastewater lines?
We take the suction throw this far away to again open this to reveal our adopters for sanitation easily plugged. This in-press a button and the old line will be decontaminated. We’ll repeat the process for each of the sections and what this will do is prevent the growth of any virus or bacteria in our lines
Is the suction hose they use at dental clinics really disinfected between each patient? Here, we show you how easy it is for us with our automated treatment centers to sanitize the suction hose and wastewater lines. This ensures that we remain 100% compliant with CDC guidelines AFTER every patient.
