Standards and precautions should be at the highest level at all times. Patients can have a transmissible infectious condition and in dentistry, saliva is considered a potentially infectious material that often contains blood, secretions and excretions.
Golden Staph can kill almost 20% of its carriers according to Peter Collington, a physician and microbiologist at the Australian National University*. In 2017 there were more than 500 Golden Staph infections across 46 NSW hospitals.
The way MRSA can be transmitted is through:
- body fluid exposure
- broken skin, mucous membrane (coughing)
- and sharps injuries.
The best way to protect yourself:
- gloves, eyewear and quality uniforms.
- even ‘cough etiquette’ with patients and the surgery staff should be be monitored at all times.
- using products effective against MRSA e.g. Bevisto-Instrumental and BevistoCryl.
If a patient shows signs of an open abscess or red like lesions that look like an insect bite, they can be covered with a dry paper towel which should reduce the spread considerably.
