Start here · Sterilization · The instrument processing cycle
Know the risk category (critical, semicritical, noncritical)
Also called: Spaulding classification, instrument categories
How an item touches the patient decides how it must be processed.
Critical items go into soft tissue or bone (scalers, curettes, probes, surgical instruments, surgical burs) and must be sterilized. Semicritical items touch the inside of the mouth but do not cut it (mirrors, handpieces, x-ray holders) and are heat-sterilized, or high-level disinfected only if they cannot take heat. Noncritical items touch only intact skin (blood pressure cuff, x-ray tube head) and are cleaned and disinfected.
What you do
- Ask yourself where the item touched the patient; that tells you which process it needs.
- Handpieces are always heat-sterilized between patients.
Related
Sources: CDC. Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings, 2003. MMWR 2003;52(RR-17)