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Daily Use of Biologic Indicators in General Dental Practice.
Journal (Canadian Dental Association)
|December 14, 2021
Summary
Dental practices in Alberta fully adopted daily biologic indicator (BI) testing, shifting to in-office methods. This increased testing frequency led to fewer positive results, potentially improving sterilizer function detection.
Area of Science:
- Dental infection control
- Sterilization monitoring
- Public health
Background:
- Biologic indicators (BIs) are crucial for monitoring sterilization efficacy in dental practices.
- North American guidelines historically recommended weekly BI testing.
- Alberta mandated a shift to daily BI testing in 2011, influencing other provinces.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the implementation of daily BI testing requirements in Alberta general dental practices.
- To evaluate factors associated with the transition to daily in-office BI testing.
- To compare outcomes of daily internal testing with previous weekly/monthly external laboratory testing.
Main Methods:
- A survey of 705 randomly selected dental offices in Alberta was conducted.
- Data collected included compliance with daily testing and positive test result occurrences.
- Findings were compared to 10 years of historical external laboratory BI test data.
Main Results:
- Survey response rate was 32.6%, indicating near-complete compliance with daily testing.
- A universal shift to in-office BI testing was observed.
- Testing increased 76-fold, with a 15-fold decrease in positive results compared to external lab data.
- Internal testing identified defective sterilizer function more frequently (5.7% vs. 3.2%), though not statistically significant.
- Offices with positive results had more repeat positive tests with internal testing (3.1 vs. 1.1).
Conclusions:
- The daily BI testing mandate successfully led to widespread adoption and a shift to in-office testing.
- A significant decrease in positive BI test results was observed.
- Daily internal testing may enhance the identification of defective sterilizer function compared to less frequent external testing.
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