Glove Perforation in Routine Dental Treatment
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of glove perforation in routine dental treatment. Of all 1,462 used gloves collected from Faculty of Dentistry, Chiang Mai University and 3 private dental practices, 9% were perforated. The most three common perforated sites were palm (27%), index (26%), and thumb (22%), respectively. No significant difference in glove perforation rate was found between dentists and assistants. Up to 99.1% of the perforated gloves were unrecognized by dental personnel. In addition, there was no correlation between time of wearing and number of perforation. The glove perforation rate was found to be significantly higher in undergraduate dental clinic when comparing to staffs’ dental clinic (p = 0.047). Moreover, the dental school also had higher glove perforation rate compared with private dental practices (p = 0.002). Recognizing the prevalence of glove perforation in routine dental treatments would help preventing cross-contamination among dental personnel and patients, especially in dental school.
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