Franklin Alyssa, Laskin Daniel M
Dental Student, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, Richmond, VA.
Professor and Chairman Emeritus, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, Richmond, VA.
J Oral Maxillofac Surg. 2014 Nov;72(11):2107-8. doi: 10.1016/j.joms.2014.07.013. Epub 2014 Jul 31.
Although there are Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines for the proper disposal of hazardous waste in the dental office, there are no guidelines for patients regarding the disposal of the gauze packs that are usually placed after tooth extraction or other dental surgery. Thus there is the possibility of cross contamination by patients with undiagnosed blood-transmitted viral diseases. The purpose of this study was to determine what, if any, instructions are given by oral and maxillofacial surgeons (OMSs) and if such instructions are adequate.
A 5-question survey was sent electronically to 375 randomly selected OMSs, and there was a 17% response. They were asked whether they provided written and verbal postoperative instructions, whether these included instructions about gauze pack disposal, and whether they gave special instructions to patients with known viral diseases such as hepatitis or human immunodeficiency virus infection.
All respondents indicated that they provided both written and verbal postoperative instructions. However, only 1 respondent's instructions indicated how to dispose of the gauze pack, and only 1 gave special instructions to patients with known viral infections.
There is a need for OMSs to provide specific instructions to all patients about the proper disposal of blood-soaked sponges to avoid potential cross contamination.
尽管美国职业安全与健康管理局有关于牙科诊所危险废物正确处置的指南，但对于患者在拔牙或其他牙科手术后通常放置的纱布包的处置，却没有相关指南。因此，存在未被诊断出患有血液传播病毒性疾病的患者造成交叉污染的可能性。本研究的目的是确定口腔颌面外科医生（OMS）给出了哪些（如果有的话）指示，以及这些指示是否充分。
通过电子邮件向375名随机挑选的口腔颌面外科医生发送了一份包含5个问题的调查问卷，回复率为17%。询问他们是否提供术后书面和口头指示，这些指示是否包括关于纱布包处置的说明，以及他们是否对患有已知病毒性疾病（如肝炎或人类免疫缺陷病毒感染）的患者给予特殊指示。
所有受访者均表示他们提供了术后书面和口头指示。然而，只有1名受访者的指示说明了如何处置纱布包，只有1名受访者对患有已知病毒感染的患者给予了特殊指示。
口腔颌面外科医生需要向所有患者提供关于正确处置血浸海绵的具体指示，以避免潜在的交叉污染。
