Sterilisation and cleanliness

In dentistry, virtually everything that goes into a patient’s mouth is either single use only (used once and then disposed of) or is cleaned and sterilised in an autoclave (effectively a pressure cooker!).

Every dental practice will use an autoclave, but in our practice we use the latest generation of vacuum autoclave. Once the instruments have been cleaned inspected and sealed into individual pouches, they are placed into the autoclave. Once its cycle is completed, the instruments are stored in the pouches until needed. Thus the contents of the pouch are protected and sterility is guaranteed until they are required for use.

Dental practices have always been regulated by the General Dental Council. In the past few years, the Care Quality Commission has been responsible for the inspection of practices. Our last visit was in January 2013 and we passed with flying colours. As we are a Denplan Excel accredited practice, we are also inspected by Denplan inspectors on a regular basis and our next Denplan inspection will be in August 2018.

We are always working to improve our processes to ensure that we provide the highest standards of care in our practice.

Our CQC Inspection results - please click the image below: