by Multiple considerations can impact glove selection.
When selecting the best glove option for a dental practice, dental professionals must account for several factors. In fact, the final decision may rest on much more than fit and comfort.
Indeed, gloves are worn by the entire clinical staff throughout the work day, and while comfort is important, so are a host of other considerations, including:
- What procedure will a particular glove be used for? (This can determine the appropriate fit.)
- Do any patients or clinicians at the practice have latex allergies?
- Will some patients be uncomfortable with the chemical smell often associated with vinyl gloves?
Clinicians constantly grip small tools and instruments, leading them to favor a particular glove texture. For instance, some gloves are thinner or softer, facilitating greater dexterity and helping prevent hand fatigue.
A good starting point may be to evaluate what the dental team has – or has not –appreciated about gloves worn in the past. If there are newcomers to the team, it may be necessary to add more glove sizes, such as extra-small or extra-large. Most importantly, the practice runs a risk when it compromises quality to save money up front. Gloves are a barrier to infection, illness and injury, protecting both the dental staff and their patients. Less expensive, lower quality glove options often break or tear more easily. They may not dispense from the box as easily, leading to additional waste.
When the dental office supplies its team with a consistently versatile, high-quality glove, clinicians can focus on providing efficient, optimal patient care.
Editor’s note: First Impressions Magazine would like to thank Ventyv for its assistance with this article.
Gloves 101
- Latex gloves. Latex gloves are made from natural rubber latex. They are known for their flexibility and fitment properties and offer reliable barrier protection. Because some practitioners and patients have allergic reactions to latex gloves, latex-free gloves, such as vinyl, nitrile and polychloroprene materials, have gained popularity in the dental office.
- Vinyl gloves. Vinyl gloves are considered a more economical option than latex. They are made with polyvinyl chloride and, as such, are free of latex allergens. However, some may feel that vinyl gloves do not offer the same flexibility as latex gloves.
- Nitrile gloves. Like vinyl gloves, nitrile gloves are made of synthetic rubber material – one that features similar characteristics to natural rubber and offers much of the same in flexibility and durability as latex gloves. Whereas some doctors may have shied away from nitrile gloves in the past because they cost more than other glove options, newer generations of nitrile gloves are thinner and less expensive. That said, there have been growing concerns of allergic reactions to chemical accelerators used in nitrile glove manufacturing; in response, newer, accelerator-free nitriles have become available.
- Polychloroprene gloves. Polychloroprene gloves are made with a synthetic rubber said to closely match the flexibility and barrier protection of latex gloves. In addition, polychloroprene gloves do not raise allergen/dermatitis concerns associated with latex and nitrile gloves.
