We at Oris Dental centre are equipped with state of the art facilities and follow strict disinfection protocols, with recommended guidelines for safe dental practice. Infection control is done at its best, ensuring a sterile working space and assuring a safe environment for both our dental team and our patients.

Sterilization is an essential step in the reprocessing of reusable dental instruments that are contaminated by biological fluids such as blood and saliva. Sterilization aims at breaking the chain of potential cross-infection between patients by killing all micro-organisms such as bacteria, fungi, virus and spores.

Steam sterilizer working under pressure using moist heat is recommended as the most efficient, and safe method of sterilizing dental instruments. We at Oris are well equipped with steam sterilizers.

What is the process of steam sterilization and how it works?

The principle of steam sterilization is to expose each instrument to the defined temperature and pressure for the required time. Pressure built up inside the vacuum chambers serves as a means to obtain the high temperatures. Specific temperatures have to be obtained to ensure microbicidal activity and effectively sterilize the instruments. The two common steam sterilizing temperatures are 121°C and 132°C. These temperatures must be maintained for a minimal time to kill all micro-organisms.  At Oris, specialized equipment called autoclaves is used, for effective steam sterilization. These autoclaves are very effective in sterilizing equipment and parts of equipment that are hard to reach. Steam sterilization is not only microbicidal but can also penetrate fabrics and sterilize porous and hollow instruments as well.

How are reusable dental instruments cleaned and steam-sterilized at Oris?

Re-usable dental instruments including, hand-pieces are cleaned with cleaning solution and running water after use. They are then further cleaned using ultrasonic devices. The ultrasonic device works on a process called cavitation, where sound waves are used to form oscillating bubbles that help remove the small debris from the instruments. The instruments are then dried and packed in wrappers and sealed. These sealed wrappers are then steam-sterilized, under moist heat and pressure in autoclaves. Once sterilized and dried, these autoclaved dried sealed pouches are stored in specialised UV chambers for later usage.

Importance of steam sterilization
Some common infections that can be contracted from a dental setting are caused, by bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes, fungi like Candida albicans, and viruses such as HIV (AIDS), Hepatitis, Herpes types 1&2, influenza, SARS, and prions. These infectious agents are said to reside in the oral cavity and they spread due to the aerosol effect produced by few dental instruments. Transmission occurs when there is direct or indirect contact of infected instruments. Steam sterilization is a proven process that prevents cross infections by effectively killing all such microorganisms.

Our dental team and supporting staff are well trained to understand the procedures of infection control, operation of equipment, proper storage of sterile instruments and record management.

Walk-in confidently for a sterile dental practice at Oris Dental Center. You are in safe hands.

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