Abstract
ObjectiveThis paper was to assess the risk for cross infection caused by blood-contaminated tampon after dental extraction and whether this risk was reduced after relevant education towards both dentists and patients.MethodsFrom December 2014 to April 2015, a survey was conducted in dentists and patients randomly before and after relevant education. The questionnaire is being revised for this survey based on learning from Chatzoudi and Franklin’ survey. This survey was approved by the institutional review board, and all participants were voluntary and all responses were anonymous.ResultsOnly 2.82 % of dentists provided patients with the postoperative-advices regarding how to dispose of blood-contaminated tampon at the first time and 47.10 % at the second time (P < 0.01). Only 1.41 % of dentists given special postoperative-advices regarding disposal of tampon to patients with blood-transmitted diseases at the first time and 24.64 % at the second time (P < 0.01). Before education, most patients were lack of nosocomial infection knowledge. After education, 22.4 % of patients threw the blood-contaminated tampon away in a proper way (P < 0.01). 66.67 % of them washed hands immediately and thoroughly after they touched the tampon (P < 0.05), 92.71 % knew the blood-contaminated tampon can cause cross-infection (P < 0.01), and 80.21 % knew how to dispose of the blood-contaminated tampon correctly (P < 0.01).ConclusionThe high risk of cross infection caused by blood-contaminated tampon is evident, and a series of measures is proposed to control it. There is a need to improve both dentists’ and patients’ awareness, enhance the education of doctors and perfect the policies and guidelines.
Highlights
Infection control is a major issue in the dental practice and has attracted increasing attention
All of them focus on the education of dentists, but not patients, and there are no guidelines regarding the proper disposal of the gauze which are used to control bleeding after dental extraction and other oral surgeries in patients
The questionnaire for patients includes 5 closed questions (Franklin and Laskin 2014): the most likely ways in which they throw the blood-contaminated tampon; whether they wash theirs hands immediately and thoroughly after they touch the tampon by hand; whether they know the blood-contaminated tampon may cause cross infection; whether the patients know how to dispose of the blood-contaminated tampon correctly; whether they dispose of the blood-contaminated tampon carefully if they have blood-transmitted disease
Summary
Infection control is a major issue in the dental practice and has attracted increasing attention Many surgical dressings, such as tampon, cotton ball, and gauze, are usually used to control bleeding after dental extraction or oral surgery, and patients are usually told to bite them for half an hour and dispose of them when the bleeding stops. A study of Chatzoudi (2009) found that most patients threw the gauze away in an improper way and half of patients touched the gauze with their bare hands before its final disposal. Both studies indicate that there is high risk for cross infection caused by blood-contaminated tampon after dental extraction, and most dentists and patients still have not paid enough attention to it. The issue that whether doctors and patients will pay enough attention and take adequate measures after they are educated is not involved in both studies
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