Prevalence and investigations of bacterial contamination in dental healthcare associated environment

Microbial contamination of medical substrate surface of dental parts touched or exposed to blood and saliva of patients can act as a reservoir for pathogenic bacteria, resulting in cross-contamination. For this reason, presence of oral microorganisms in dental clinics is a major source of dental contamination and infection worldwide. The work described here aimed to determine the presence of bacteria on variety of dental clinic surfaces including a dental chair arm rest, a sink/faucet, the floor beneath a dental chair; a towel dispenser, handles connected to a light and to an instrument table; dental record paper; an X-ray viewer and finally, a bench and head-rest in five separate departments (pediatric dentistry, implant, dental prosthetics, oral medicine and restorative dentistry) of the King Saud University Dental Hospital, both before and after patient treatment. The isolation and identification of bacterial colonies was achieved using a range of methods such as using a Vitek2 automated system. The results showed that all surfaces in different departments were contaminated with bacteria, most notably in the Implant Department, while much less bacterial contamination was reported in the Department of Oral Medicine. The most commonly isolated bacteria were species of, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Pseudomonas, Bacillus and Micrococcus.