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ortho the international C.E. magazine of orthodontics

26 I I research_ bib clip contamination _Researchers at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine,incollaborationwithresearchers at the Forsyth Institute, published a study recently that found 20 to 30 percent of dental bib clips still harbor bacterial contaminants even after proper disinfection procedures. Rubber-faced metal bib clips were found to re- tainmorebacteriathanbibclipsmadeonlyofmetal beforedisinfection.Thestudyalsofoundthatbefore disinfection, bib clips used during orthodontic pro- cedures had three times the bacterial load of those used during endodontic procedures, suggesting that the nature of dental treatment impacts the number of bacteria present on the clips. The full study, “Do Bib Clips Pose a Cross-Contamination RiskattheDentalClinic?”isnowavailablefordown- load atwww.duxdental.com/bibclipstudy. Thestudyisbelievedtobethefirstpeer-reviewed study to be published on bib clip contamination. Four other research reports have found bacterial contamination on dental bib holders, including re- searchconductedbyU.S.infectioncontrolspecialist Dr. John Molinari, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Dentistry Oral Microbiol- ogy lab and the University of Witten/Herdecke in Germany. “Our study included statistical analysis and, to the best of our knowledge, is the most compre- hensive study to date analyzing the bacterial load on dental bib clips before and after disinfection in twospecializedclinics,”saidAddyAlt-Holland,MSc, PhD, assistant professor at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and the lead researcher on the study. “The study found that disinfecting reduced bacterial contamination by 92 percent, but some bacteria remained on several bib clips even after disinfection,” she said. “Further research is under way to identify the bacterial species in samples from both pre- and post-disinfected bib clips to de- termine whetheror not theyretaindisease-causing bacteria and if they pose contamination risks.” The study analyzed bacterial loads on bib clips from a total of 80 dental bib holders — 40 collected from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine’s endodontics clinic and another 40 collected from the school’s orthodontics clinic. From each chain, both clips that hold the dental bib were sampled before and after practitioners disinfected the bib holder following the school’s disinfection protocol, which requires the holder to be wiped down with an EPA-approved disinfectant wipe, according to the manufacturer’s instruction. Disinfection was found to reduce bacteria on the ortho2_2012 Study: 20-30 percent of bib clips harbor bacteria even after disinfection Photo/Provided by DUX Dental