Efficacy of cling film for barrier protection in a dental clinical environment: short communication

Abstract

Disposable plastic film is sometimes used as barrier protection for items of equipment in the dental surgery. This study was designed to investigate the efficacy of cling film for this purpose. The clinic experiment investigated whether there was a progressive accumulation of bacteria on the dental chair bracket table surface, protected by cling film, during 10 clinical sessions. The results showed that occasional contamination occurred (1—7 cfu/100cm²) but there was no evidence of accumulation of bacteria beneath the cling film. Laboratory experiments in which Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus epidermidis, and Streptococcus sanguinis in suspensions of approximately 3 × 10⁵ cfu/ml were placed on the surface of cling film on agar plates for 30 minutes demonstrated that the organisms were unable to pass through but contaminants from the film were detected on 12/32 plates. We conclude that cling film is effective in this application but could itself potentially be a vehicle for cross-infection.