Gloving and hand hygiene — mutually inclusive activities

Wearing gloves and proper hand hygiene (HH) are two major tenets of today's dental office infection control programme. In fact, the two activities are mutually inclusive. Their protective success depends on the correct application of the other.

Wearing gloves does not eliminate the need for HH. Rather, frequency of HH must increase. HH should be performed immediately before donning gloves. Lowering microbial contamination decreases the chances of soiling the non-sterile glove supply when reaching for new gloves and decreases transient skin flora. Gloves can have small, unapparent defects or be torn during use. Also, hands can become contaminated during glove removal. These circumstances increase the risk of operative wound contamination and exposure of dental healthcare professionals' (DHCPs') hands to patient micro-organisms. In addition, bacteria can multiply rapidly in the moist environments present underneath gloves. Hands should be dried thoroughly before donning gloves and washed again immediately after glove removal.¹