Microbiological hazard analysis in dental technology laboratories.
Dental technicians are trained in a range of skills involved in the fabrication of prostheses used in the mouth and facial region. Items entering the dental laboratory are essentially inert materials which have been in contact with the patient's mouth, saliva, and possibly blood. Appliances leaving the laboratory are then returned to the clinician to be tried/inserted in the patient's mouth. Relatively little attention has been paid to infection control policy within dental laboratories, perhaps due to perceived and/or actual remoteness from patients, lack of appropriate training, and lack of relevant research. More controlled studies are desirable, in order to identify any potentially hazardous procedures, and to make an assessment of risk for these procedures.