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ortho the international C.E. magazine of orthodontics

28 I I research_ bib clip contamination bib clips but did not completely eliminate it, leaving 20 to 30 percent of the bib clips contaminated with bacteria. Thirty percent of the metal bib clips collected fromtheendodonticsclinicand25percentofthose collected from the orthodontics clinic were still contaminated with bacteria after disinfection. Twenty-five percent of the rubber-faced metal bib clips collected from the endodontics clinic and 20percentofthosecollectedfromtheorthodontics clinic were still contaminated with bacteria after disinfection. “The findings of the study translate into private practice,” said Gerard Kugel, DMD, MS, PhD, profes- soratTuftsUniversitySchoolofDentalMedicineand senior author on the paper. “In a busy practice, you are doing a lot of different procedures and bringing patients in and out quickly. It is time-consuming to properlycleanbibclipsbyautoclave,andsprayisnot an effective way to disinfect bib clips. “Ifyouareusingbibholders,makesurethechains and clips are being disinfected after every patient, orconsidermovingtousingdisposablebibholders,” said Kugel, associate dean for research at Tufts. _Nature of dental treatment and style of clips impact level of bacteria on bib clips When the bib clips were sampled before disin- fection, the study found a significant difference in the presence of bacteria on the clips depending on which clinics the clips were sampled from and the style of the bib clip. Before disinfection, metal and rubber-faced metal bib clips collected from the orthodontics clinic had 149 percent to 205 percent more bacteria, respectively, than clips collected from the endodontics clinic. The authors speculate that the use of rubber dams during endodontic treatment may limit the contamination of bib clips while orthodontic treat- ment may result in higher bacterial presence on clips because it involves entering and re-entering the mouth multiple times which could lead to more bacterial contamination from the practitioner’s gloves; or adolescent and teenage patients, com- mon to orthodontics, may be more prone to touch and handle the bib clip during treatment. After disinfection,thebacterialcountsonclipsfromboth clinics were similarly reduced. Before disinfection, rubber-faced metal bib clips werefoundtohavemorethandoublethenumberof bacteria on average than metal clips had. “The surface of rubber and metal is different in composition and may explain the difference in bacterial loads on them,” Alt-Holland said. Rubber- facedmetalbibclipscollectedfromtheendodontics clinic had 119 percent higher bacterial count than metal bib clips and 167 percent higher bacterial count on those from the orthodontics clinic before disinfection.Afterdisinfection,thebacterialcounts on both styles of clips were found to be similar. _Continuation study under way to identify bacteria strains A continuation study is already under way by researchers at Tufts University School of Dental Medicine and the Forsyth Institute to identify the type of bacteria present on dental bib clips before and after disinfection to help determine if there are cross-contamination risks to patients. Visit www.duxdental.com/bibclipstudy to download a full transcript of the research paper, “Do Bib Clips Pose a Cross-Contamination Risk at the Dental Clinic?” _About DUX Dental DUXDentalhasbeenmanufacturinganddistrib- utingthehighestlevelofdentalproductsworldwide for more than 50 years. Based in the coastal city of Oxnard, Calif., with additional manufacturing and distributionfacilitiesinEurope,DUXDentalishome to a world-class team of innovators who produce and service a portfolio of hundreds of dental prod- ucts and supplies. DUX Dental is well-known for its series of industry firsts including Zone Temporary Cement, Identic™ Alginate and Bib-ezedisposable bib holders, as well as its award-winning PeelVue+ sterilization pouches. Visit www.duxdental.com or contact duxoffice@duxdental.com for more infor- mation about DUX Dental products._ ortho2_2012 ‘... 20 percent of those collected from the orthodontics clinic were still contaminated with bacteria after disinfection.’