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Reducing the transmission of harmful bacteria

6 mins read Oral health and mouth cancer
Bacteria can transmit many harmful infections and can live on surfaces for long periods of time. This article describes techniques to help reduce the amount of bacteria within the dental practice

Harmful bacteria and super bugs like meticillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile are all too often heard in everyday conversations, but what is more alarming is that they are in our surroundings much more than we imagine. The realisation is that these super bugs are becoming resistant to the antibiotics we are using to treat them, with NHS costs rising to over a billion pounds a year to tackle these multi-resistant organisms.

Bacteria can live on surfaces for long periods of times without awareness. Table 1 shows the length of time the most dangerous bacteria can survive on surfaces.

Survival time of bacteria

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