Bar soaps in dental clinic might be a bacterial reservoir

Aims and Objectives: As the number of patients undergoing dental treatment is on the rise, it becomes essential to know the standard of sterilization protocol followed there and thereby to prevent the cross infection that can result. Thus the present study was undertaken to know whether the bar soaps, used in dental clinic environment can harbor bacteria or not and if so to culture and identify thebacteria.Methods:The study was carried out in 25 different private dental clinics in Chennai. The samples were collected from in use bar soaps, using cotton swabs and immediately introduced into the sterile test tube containing 2 ml normal saline. They were then was inoculated into each of blood agar and MacConkey agar plates and incubated at 37˚C overnight. Colony counts were done and reported as Colony Forming Units (CFU) / ml. The colonies of various morphological features were stained with gram stain and identification was done by standard procedures.Results: Of 25 samples, positive culture was seen in 23 samples. The organisms seen were Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, Straph aureus and Straph epidermidis with CFU ranging from 102-106 CFU/ml.Conclusion: It can be understood from our study that dental clinic must be treated like a hospital environment and hence adequate infection control protocols must be followed to prevent cross infection