How clean is your phone?

Patients expect and deserve to receive dental treatment in a safe and clean environment, where the risk of infection transmission is minimised as much as possible. Although, significant attention is given to the cleaning of work top surfaces in the treatment room, it's easy to overlook other potential reservoirs of infection such as telephones, computer equipment and furnishings. Surgery cleaning protocols should take into account the increased use of high-tech dental equipment with sensitive surfaces such as digital X-ray displays, CT scanner monitors and computer monitors used to display 3D imaging technology. A study of bacteria on mobile phones in the healthcare environment showed that 83% (44 phones) were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria at initial testing as well as organic material. After a single disinfecting process, only 8% tested posititve for pathogenic bacteria. However, one week later, this had increased again to 75%, leading the researchers to recommend the frequent cleaning and disinfection of all phones used in a healthcare setting. [Shakir, 2015]