Samaranayake L
Oral Biology Unit, Prince Philip Dental Hospital, Hong Kong.
Int Dent J. 1993 Dec;43(6):578-84.
The subject of infection control in dentistry has aroused much controversy and debate during the past decade as a result of the global spread of the human immunodeficiency virus infection. Consequently a number of regulatory bodies have promulgated guidelines for infection control in dentistry and the current consensus is that the 'universal infection control' policy--which considers every patient as infectious--should be the norm in every dental practice. The reasons for this are the asymptomatic carriage of pathogens due to the sub-clinical nature, the prodromal period and the carrier state associated with a number of diseases. The universal infection control rules should encompass six elements: routine patient evaluation, personal protection with barrier techniques, instrument sterilisation including sterilisation control, surface and equipment disinfection, asepsis in the laboratory and appropriate disposal of contaminated waste including sharps. Finally, practitioners should attempt to keep abreast of the rules and regulations related to the subject of infection control in dentistry which are continuously evolving due to the steadily increasing data pool on infectious diseases and their modes of prevention.
在过去十年中，由于人类免疫缺陷病毒感染在全球范围内的传播，牙科感染控制这一主题引发了诸多争议和讨论。因此，一些监管机构颁布了牙科感染控制指南，目前的共识是，“普遍感染控制”政策——即将每位患者都视为具有传染性——应成为每家牙科诊所的规范做法。这样做的原因是，由于亚临床性质、前驱期以及与多种疾病相关的携带状态，病原体可无症状携带。普遍感染控制规则应涵盖六个要素：常规患者评估、采用屏障技术进行个人防护、器械灭菌包括灭菌控制、表面和设备消毒、实验室无菌操作以及妥善处理包括锐器在内的污染废物。最后，从业者应努力跟上与牙科感染控制主题相关的规章制度，由于关于传染病及其预防方式的数据池不断增加，这些规章制度也在不断演变。
