At Cole Dental we don't just take care of your teeth, we also perform all the precise, background work to ensure that your health and personal safety are never compromised.
Unfortunately, in an industry such as dentistry there are inherent risks if safety standards aren't adhered to. Infection control is a serious business and needs to be the top priority for any health related service.
Within the past year dental clinics across Brisbane have been undergoing both soft and hard audits by the Queensland Government Health Department in order to ensure that standards are being met. Shockingly as a result, earlier this year a practice at Carina had been forced to shut down and its dentist suspended, due to improper infection control.
Currently a number of other clinics are also at risk of closure for lack of carrying out proper health and safety procedures. In some cases, where standards haven't been met within a practice, their patients have been urged to check-in with their local general practitioners. Though the risk of transmission is very low, patients have been advised to have their blood tested in order to determine whether they have been infected with any form of blood-borne disease such as Hepatitis C.
At Cole we’ve become aware of these cases circulating the news, particularly online1, which may rightly spark the public's concern. It's for this reason that we're taking the time to let our clients know that at Cole Dental we take infection control extremely seriously. We work diligently to over-deliver on infection control standards so that these tragic scenarios will never be played out under our watch.
In our practice we ensure that all of our staff members, no matter what their role, undergo rigorous training in the field of infection control. All our staff follow strict personal and hand hygiene, as well as ensuring that all clinical areas and clinical equipment are being thoroughly maintained at all times. We take very close care when disposing of sharps and waste to ensure of their safe handling and removal.
Our priority is to care about YOU. When it comes to your health it's our mission to always exceed standards, and to never be pressured—by either time or health fund restrictions—into cutting corners. This is yet another reason why we choose to remain an independent, accredited practice.
If you have any concerns at all we're here to answer your questions—contact Anna our practice manager.
REFERENCES
1. Queensland Health shuts dental clinic
1. Brisbane dental clinic at Carina closed by Queensland Health, dentist suspended