Dental bib chains potential source of infection

Most of us never would use wet towels left in the gym, nor tissues left by someone suffering from a nasty cold. We'd probably call Housekeeping if we discovered a used toothbrush in our hotel room. But we don't ever worry about the bib chains in the dentist's office. Noel Kelsch, a national infection control columnist, registered dental hygienist and former president of the California Dental Hygienists' Association, studied various dental chains and clips after seeing "stuff" falling off a chain she had planned to use to protect her uniform at lunch. What she found led her to pen a column titled, "Don't Clip that Crud on Me," for RDH Magazine, a trade publication for dental hygienists. Her findings echoed a study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Dentistry Oral Microbiology Lab.

Would you be interested in speaking with Ms. Kelsch about her findings and a simple way to avoid cross contamination in the dental chair? I'm sure your readers will be interested in this seldom considered -- but very real -- potential infection route.

Thanks for your consideration.

Mary Alice Rogers

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