Dental Hygiene-Sterilization Course

AIMS: Advanced Infection Prevention Management Solutions
Effective Instrument Reprocessing for Dental Practices

Instrument reprocessing involves complex procedures and protocols that must be regularly reviewed, optimized, and adapted to the latest scientific and technological advancements.

According to UNI EN 13060, “A medical device is considered sterile when the probability of a microorganism being present is less than or equal to one in a million. This probability can never be zero.”

To achieve this threshold, sterilization alone is not sufficient — it must be preceded by an effective pre-treatment of instruments. Pre-disinfection of used instruments plays a crucial role in reducing microbial load and minimizing infection risks in subsequent steps. Unfortunately, this critical phase is often underestimated or performed incorrectly, which can compromise both staff and patient safety.

This course provides clear, visually supported information — including images and videos — to help participants improve the performance and efficiency of their reprocessing procedures, reaching the standard of best practice, comparable to hospital-level hygiene.

The overarching goal is to identify common mistakes in disinfection and sterilization, highlight opportunities for improvement, and strengthen awareness that there are no shortcuts to successful and safe protocols.

Course topics include:

• Instrument handling: from the dental chair to storage
• Importance of pre-disinfection and cleaning
• Device inspection and maintenance (sterilizer)
• The concept of traceability
• The challenge of handpiece reprocessing (manual and automatic)
• Optimization of the sterilization area