RESUMO
Objective: To study the preventive measures adopted against hepatitis by dental practitioners
Setting: This descriptive study was conducted in Lahore involving 73 private dental practitioners
Results: Majority of dental practitioners, 87.7% were vaccinated against hepatitis B virus. 95.9% washed hands with soap before and after doing any dental procedure. 87.7% and 95.4% used new set of sterilized instruments and disposable needles for each patient respectively. 94.5% and 78.1% used disposable cartridges and gloves respectively. 86.3% utilized disposable suction tips. 75.3% dental surgeons used an auto-clave. Non of the dental practitioners had attended any short course or any workshop regarding hepatitis and only 35.6% had studied guidelines about hepatitis prevention. 60.3% dental practitioners were not using sterilized hand piece for each patient. 16.4% did not utilize sterilized burs and 90.4% did not sterilize the tip of light cure unit. 94.5% did not use needle cutters, and 98.6% were disposing their infectious waste in routine garbage
Conclusion: Emphasis should be placed on consistent adherence to recommended infection-control strategies. Each dental facility should develop a written protocol for instrument reprocessing, operatory cleanup and management of injuries. There should be training of all dental health care workers in proper infection control practices