Dentsply Sirona: Clean Processes for Safe Infection Control

Infection control in the dental practice begins with the thorough cleaning and disinfection of the hands. It also includes cleaning and disinfection of surfaces that are near the patient, such as treatment centers, and the correct reprocessing of used instruments. It ends with the sterile packaging and storage of the instruments including their documentation. All these processes should be safe and easy to carry out. Dentsply Sirona supports such practices with its proven products and innovative systems.
Absolutely perfect infection control within the practice is the basis for successful dental treatment. “For this reason, our efforts are aimed at making these demanding processes as simple as possible and indeed also automating them wherever possible,” explained Jan Siefert, Group Vice President Instruments at Dentsply Sirona. “This can be seen particularly clearly in our modern treatment centers and in instrument reprocessing.”

Effective infection prevention at treatment centers
The Intego, Sinius and Teneo treatment centers impress with their unified infection prevention concept. Dental assistants are especially satisfied, as they generally take on the important task of cleaning and disinfection. The integrated disinfection system automatically adds a disinfectant to the water, ensuring maintenance of high water quality. All instrument hoses can be plugged into the corresponding sanitization adapters for periodic flushing each morning and after each patient or monthly sanitization. While the treatment center automatically flushes the waterlines, the assistant has more time to concentrate on other preparatory work in the treatment room. The flushing process runs reliably for the complete period requested and hence provides the security of being able to work with perfect hygiene. The suction hoses can also be plugged into the sanitization adapters. With the push of a button all suction hoses can be flushed between each patient. If desired, this is done not only with water but also with an automatically added chemical cleaning agent. This allows the practice team to do away with the daily mixing and manual suctioning of a cleaning agent.

Clinician Safety with preventive masks
Personal protection is absolutely essential in the dental practice. Modern oral protection simultaneously protects the wearer and their patients against particles of saliva, splashes and floating materials during treatment. “We consider every aspect of the treatment, from both the clinician’s and the patient’s point of view,” said Greg Sheehan, Group Vice President Preventive. “We aim to support the preventive procedure by offering products that allow for the safe and efficient practice of dentistry.”

Dentsply Sirona Preventive’s Com-Fit Plush face masks contain an innovative inner material that feels soft on the skin. They feature comfortable ear loops and a patented, curved nose band for a perfect fit. Users find these masks to be more pleasant than comparable products from other suppliers, and furthermore, they are hypoallergenic.

After treatment has been completed, intelligent features and details effectively support the hygiene procedure: All of the hygiene-critical elements of a treatment center (grips, tablets, silicone mats) can be removed, thermally disinfected and/or sterilized. The smooth, almost gap-free surface design helps to boost hygiene and enables simple surface disinfection with disinfecting pads.

For the surgical instruments that are used in implantology, a time-and-cost-efficient system has been developed with the wash trays for the Dentsply Sirona implant systems Ankylos, Astra Tech Implant System and Xive. Individual instruments have to be organized just once and then remain in the wash tray for all steps of reprocessing, i.e. for cleaning, disinfection, sterilization, storage and renewed clinical usage.

Correct reprocessing of instruments
All instruments in a dental practice require specialized cleaning and reprocessing, regardless of whether they are to be used for immediate re-use or bagged before sterilization. This includes, for example, implantology contra-angle handpieces with their narrow media channels and intricate interior spaces. In the preparation process, validity is also important alongside effectiveness. The DAC Universal combined autoclave from Dentsply Sirona provides this safety. Alongside contra-angles, straight handpieces and turbines, ultrasonic handpieces and tips of multi-functional syringes can also be cleaned internally and externally with an automated process without chemical additives. Thermal disinfection and sterilization is also possible.


About Dentsply Sirona
Dentsply Sirona is the world’s largest manufacturer of professional dental products and technologies, with a 130-year history of innovation and service to the dental industry and patients worldwide. Dentsply Sirona develops, manufactures, and markets a comprehensive solutions offering including dental and oral health products as well as other consumable medical devices under a strong portfolio of world class brands. As The Dental Solutions Company, Dentsply Sirona’s products provide innovative, high-quality and effective solutions to advance patient care and deliver better, safer and faster dentistry. Dentsply Sirona’s global headquarters is located in York, Pennsylvania, and the international headquarters is based in Salzburg, Austria. The company’s shares are listed in the United States on NASDAQ under the symbol XRAY.

Visit www.dentsplysirona.com for more information about Dentsply Sirona and its products.