Dental practices have a tighter cleaning environment than general medical: aerosol generation, more equipment surfaces, and a sterilisation area with its own rules.
General guidance only. Your practice’s infection prevention protocol and the Dental Council’s standards take precedence and should drive the specification.
Zoning
| Zone | Cleaning approach |
|---|---|
| Surgery | Clinical protocol, dedicated equipment |
| Sterilisation / LDC | Practice staff clean equipment; cleaner does floors and general surfaces only |
| Public | Standard commercial with high-touch emphasis |
| Amenity | Standard commercial |
| Admin | Standard commercial |
Critical: the boundary between what the cleaner does and what clinical staff do in the sterilisation area must be written down. Ambiguity here is a genuine risk.
Every visit, surgery
- Dental chair, all surfaces, including the base, sides and underside of arms
- Chair controls and foot pedal
- Operating light handle and body
- Delivery unit surfaces and hose exteriors
- Bracket table
- Suction unit exterior
- Curing light and X-ray head exterior
- Bench tops and work surfaces
- Cabinet fronts and handles
- Hand basin, tapware and splashback
- Soap and sanitiser dispensers
- Sharps container exterior and bracket
- Waste bin exteriors, lids and pedals
- Computer monitor, keyboard and mouse (per practice protocol)
- Door handles both sides
- Light switches
- Skirtings
- Floors, mopped, into corners, under the chair and unit
Aerosol-generating procedures mean surgery surfaces need more attention at height than a general medical room, walls at splash height, and the underside of surfaces above the chair.
Every visit, sterilisation area
Cleaner responsibilities only:
- Floors
- Skirtings
- Bin exteriors
- Door handles
- General bench edges outside the clean/dirty workflow zone
Everything within the instrument workflow, autoclaves, ultrasonic baths, sinks used for instrument processing, benches in the clean zone, is practice staff responsibility.
Every visit, reception and waiting
- Reception counter, both sides
- Eftpos, keyboard, phone
- Seating including arms and underside of arms
- Children’s play area and toys
- Water cooler
- Hand sanitiser refilled
- Door handles and push plates
- Entry glass
- Floors
Every visit, bathrooms and staff areas
Standard commercial bathroom protocol plus sanitary bin service. Staff kitchen and staff room to standard commercial.
Weekly
- Skirtings throughout
- Internal glass
- Window sills
- Tiles and grout
- Chair and stool bases, castors
- Cable management under units
- Waste store
Monthly
- High dusting
- Air vents and extract grilles, important given aerosol generation
- Light fittings
- Behind and under fixed cabinetry
- Upholstery inspected and vacuumed
Equipment separation
Colour-coded and never shared:
- Red, toilets
- Yellow, surgery and clinical basins
- Blue, public and admin
- Green, kitchen
Cloths laundered or disposed between zones. Mop heads changed between clinical and non-clinical.
Documentation
Dental accreditation asks for evidence of environmental cleaning. Useful records show:
- Date and time
- Who attended
- Each task complete or not, by room
- Photo evidence
- Anything flagged
- Exportable, retained
The practical benefit is at audit time: producing a monthly export takes a minute, versus reconstructing a cleaning history from memory and invoices.
Agree the boundary in writing
The single most important line in a dental cleaning specification:
Cleaning of instrument processing equipment, and all surfaces within the instrument workflow in the local decontamination area, remains the responsibility of practice clinical staff. The Provider’s scope in that area is limited to floors, skirtings, bin exteriors and door furniture.
Write it down. Both sides benefit.