Handpiece asepsis: a survey of the attitudes of dental practitioners

The methods of handpiece asepsis employed by general dental practitioners (GDPs) in England and the problems considered to be associated with handpiece sterilisation were investigated by means of a postal questionnaire distributed to a random sample of 500 GDPs during July 1993. A total of 267 replies were received (53.4% response). The results indicated that at the time of the survey, autoclavable handpieces were possessed by 90.6% of the respondents (n = 242), with 45.9% (n = 111) of these respondents indicating that they autoclaved their handpieces routinely after every patient. Reasons given by respondents for not autoclaving handpieces routinely included insufficient handpieces, fear of handpiece damage, cost, and the consideration that sterilisation was not necessary. Handpiece asepsis procedures had been upgraded by 89% (n = 237) of respondents in the 5 years preceding the survey. Media coverage was found to have exerted influence on the respondent dentists' behaviour, with the overall incidence of routine handpiece autoclaving increasing by 20.6% after media coverage of the subject.