{"id":954,"date":"2019-09-20T14:26:33","date_gmt":"2019-09-20T12:26:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/laboratory-en\/disinfezione-e-sterilizzazione-degli-strumenti-una-guida-step-by-step\/"},"modified":"2025-05-08T10:05:54","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T08:05:54","slug":"disinfection-and-sterilisation-of-tools-step-by-step-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/hygiene-en\/disinfection-and-sterilisation-of-tools-step-by-step-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"Disinfection and sterilisation of tools: a step-by-step guide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In a dental surgery, all medical devices that come into direct contact with people and which may cause bleeding or small lesions of the dermis or mucous membranes must undergo sterilisation after each use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The objective is to prevent the\ntransmission of infectious diseases among patients and surgery and laboratory\nstaff, and vice versa. Since <strong>there are\nno patients at &#8220;special risk&#8221;<\/strong>, anyone gravitating around the\nclinic is considered to be a potential pathology carrier, until proven\notherwise. This is why the standard of hygiene must be the same for all\npatients and dental surgery staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although the same procedure is\napplied to all patients, <strong>particular\nattention should be paid to four important elements<\/strong> that are deemed to be\nespecially critical:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The cleanliness and hygiene of the clinic\u2019s medical and paramedical staff\u2019s hands<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Contaminated pointed or sharp tools<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Surfaces more exposed to contact with biological material.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fragments of dental materials, biological liquids and spray produced by surgery tools<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Before proceeding with the\nsurgery tool sterilisation protocol, you need to <strong>know the degree of infective risk of the device <\/strong>that requires\nrepeated maintenance and preparation; indeed, there are tools which, when they\ncome in contact with the skin or mucous membranes, have three degrees of\ncriticality:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Not critical<\/strong>: in contact\nwith unbroken skin or mucous membrane<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Semi-critical<\/strong>: in contact\nwith broken skin or mucous membrane<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Critical<\/strong>: penetration\nand contact with the blood<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you have understood the\nimportance of the above assumptions, we can proceed and draft a <strong>step-by-step guide<\/strong> for the disinfection\nand sterilisation of dental surgery tools:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Collection and transportation<\/strong>: always wear the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment to\ncollect and transport tools and use containers that protect both the product\nduring transportation and the driver against accidental contamination<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Decontamination<\/strong>: tools must\nimmediately be immersed in a tray containing a chemical disinfectant solution,\nmaking sure you carefully observe the concentration and the product activation\ntimes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Washing<\/strong>: tools are\ncarefully disassembled and soaked in a <strong>detergent-disinfectant\n<\/strong>solution\/formulation. After soaking, tools should be brushed, using\ndelicate brushes to remove any residue of organic and inorganic substances.\nWashing can be carried out manually, or with the help of an ultrasonic bath.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Rinsing<\/strong>: tools can now\nbe rinsed under a jet of running water to remove all the disinfectant.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Drying<\/strong>: this step\nmust be performed accurately because a damp instrument could compromise the\nsubsequent sterilisation process.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Packaging<\/strong>: this consists\nin the insertion of the medical devices in a sterile pack (referred to as an\nSBS, or sterile barrier system) and its purpose is to keep the tool sterile\nuntil it is used. Some tools may not be packaged, provided that they have a\ndegree of criticality I and that they are used within twenty-four hours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Autoclave<\/strong>: tools are\nintroduced into the autoclave and are sterilised by selecting the appropriate\nprogramme; during this step, all the micro-organisms (including spores) which\nremained on the tools after the previous steps are neutralised definitively.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Storage<\/strong>: at the end of\nthe sterilisation cycle, it is important to make sure that there are no traces\nof moisture on the material. Thereafter, all the sterile medical devices can be\nstored in dry and closed places to ensure they remain intact.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>During all the stages of the\ndisinfection and sterilisation process, it is <strong>extremely important to wear PPE<\/strong>, i.e. Personal Protective Equipment\n(disposable gown, cap, masks, goggles\/visor, gloves).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Articolo a cura di Stefania Barbieri<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a dental surgery, all medical devices that come into direct contact with people and which may cause bleeding or small lesions of the dermis or mucous membranes must undergo sterilisation after each use.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":922,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"rs_blank_template":"","rs_page_bg_color":"","slide_template_v7":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hygiene-en"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=954"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5984,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/954\/revisions\/5984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.zhermack.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}