Sterilization and Safety

When you seek care at our office, you are assured of a safe, clean, and modern environment. Here are some of our policies and procedures that are in place for your safety:

Our sterilization procedures exceed government standards and include, but are not limited to . . .

• Autoclaves (High-Pressure Steam Sterilizers), Ultra-Fast (Statim) cassette autoclaves and one backup Pelton Crane autoclave.. (An autoclave is a high pressure steam sterilizer, and is the medical standard for sterilization).
  
• All handpieces (drills), All metal and plastic-autoclaveable instruments are autoclaved (sterilized) before each and every use.
  
• Sterilizer verification. EVERY WEEK, we submit sterilized spore samples for analysis to the Microbiology lab to verify the efficacy of our sterilizers. They have never failed.
  
• We have installed (2009) a totally isolated water system to prevent the possibility of our patients receiving city water contamination.
  
• Disposable drapes, covers, and barriers are used wherever possible. Anything that comes in contact with your oral tissues is either sterilized or disposable.
  
• Before we try in any of your dental work, it is sterilized to eliminate potential contamination from lab technician handling.

Eye Safety

When you are reclining in our treatment chair, there is always the possibility of mist and debris becoming airborne and settling onto the delicate tissues of your eyes. Because of this, we always ask you to wear safety glasses, which we provide, while we provide care for you.

Anesthesia:

Many people do not realize that most dental anesthetics carry cardiac related risks. We appropriate, we always use anesthetic without vaso-constrictors, making our anesthetics totally cardiac-friendly. In those instances where Lidocaine with epinephrine is indicated (which has potential cardiac side effects), we make sure that your medical history is in harmony with their use.

Preventive Pre-med:

We ascribe to the American Heart Association guidelines for premedication prior to dental procedures. We also apply the AHA guidelines for the protection of our prosthetic joint patients, as well as our patients who are undergoing immunosuppressant therapies.