Use of gloves among dentists in Sweden

This study among 191 public and private dentists in the Malmöhus County of southern Sweden showed that 77% of the community dentists (n = 167) and 54% of the private dentists (n = 24) used gloves regularly as infection precaution during extraction. For surgery these figures were 90% and 54% respectively. These were low figures considering the several general recommendations from both the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare and local community authorities to dental personnel to use gloves regularly during procedures with known risk of blood contact. The survey showed that 61% (n = 167) of the public dentists and 4% (n = 24) of the private dentists used gloves regularly during all patient treatment. High cost for gloves was no major obstacle for not using them regularly but rather discomfort and old habits (79% of the answers). 21% of the dentists had experienced local infections of their hands due to patient contact, puncture wounds being the most common cause. Most of the dentists using gloves had been influenced by the general HIV/AIDS discussion in news media (65%; n = 114).