With the advent of Coronavirus we are getting a lot of questions regarding infection control and safe practice. As we care for the safety of our patients and staff, we thought it prudent to share our systems that we use on a daily basis for every patient.
We are quite proud of the fact that due to these high standards, even with the outbreak of this new virus we have not had to change any aspect of our care.
With our recent move we upgraded our sterilisation system. Bite is one of the few dental practices in the country to use the complete MELAG infection control system. This involves a thermal disinfector to wash instruments, track and trace software with cycle validation and an autoclave sterilisation system. We validate and cross check each step and can trace each item used in surgery back to an individual cycle of sterilisation with its validation. We meet the standard of infection control that is used in a hospital setting.
As reported by the media there is a face mask shortage in Australia and some practices have resorted to re-using masks or using masks not approved by the TGA for dental procedures.
Bite uses disposable Grade 2 facemasks that are approved by the TGA for use with aerosols such as the coronavirus. We have a stock of around 1750 left of these in the practice and use one mask per patient.
We have shored up our supply chain back in January in preparation for this and we have an additional 200 masks delivered each month. This should get us through to September 2020 at the current rate we use them.
Be assured we will not, under any circumstances re-use masks or use masks that are not TGA approved for the procedure we are conducting.
Bite continues to use QLD Health handwashing guidelines, and these are displayed in each surgery along with the supply of handwash, moisturiser and an alcohol handrub which is also at reception for patient use if desired.
Handwashing is completed at the start and end of each procedure and again when working in the sterilisation room.
We have supplies of Alcohol handrub to last until September 2020 at the current use rates.
Bite uses TGA approved gloves for all procedures. These are single use items and are disposed of at the end of each appointment. Currently these are not in short supply however we have taken steps to ensure we have supplies and a secure supply chain.
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All surgical procedures carry risk. Before proceeding, you should seek a second opinion from an appropriately qualified health practitioner.
