Hand care for dentists and dental hygienists

01 · Chairside

Glove on, glove off, next patient

Cleanings, fillings, crowns, extractions. Your hands are gloved for every one of them, and they’re washed or sanitized every time the gloves come off. By the last appointment of the day that adds up to dozens of cycles.

Every step protects a patient. Together they’re hard on the hands doing them.

Dental infection-control guidance calls for hand hygiene before and after treating each patient, before gloving and after the gloves come off.CDC, Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings (2003)

02 · Under the glove

Sweat in, oils out

• Skin cells
• Oils and lipids
• Sweat and water

The outermost layer of skin, the stratum corneum, is dead skin cells held together by natural oils and lipids. Picture bricks and mortar. The mortar holds moisture in and keeps irritants out.

Gloves trap sweat and friction against that layer for the length of a procedure. Then frequent washing and disinfectants strip the oils away. Irritation, dryness and flaking follow.

03 · What develops

Irritant contact dermatitis

• Water escaping
• Irritants

Keep exposing skin to water, soap, disinfectants and the inside of a glove and the barrier breaks down. That’s irritant contact dermatitis. It starts as redness, itching and dryness and can progress to cracking and blistering.

Cracked skin is harder to keep clean, and sore hands make every wash between patients harder to keep up with.

There’s a second type, allergic contact dermatitis, where skin becomes sensitized to something it touches, including some glove materials. If your hands won’t heal, get them looked at.

04 · Why we built it

Built to go under your gloves

Most lotions people bring from home weren’t made for clinical work. About 90% of them use mineral oils, and petroleum or mineral-oil products can break down latex gloves. So we built a water-based lotion that leaves those out, and alcohol-free sanitizers that don’t dry hands the way alcohol does.

The lotion and the sanitizing cream are dermatologist tested: 50-subject patch tests with zero reactions.ALS / BioScreen, FDA-registered lab, Study 22-522A (2022)

05 · Between patients

When to use what

1. 1
   Before the first patientWash, then I.C. Lotion, Fragrance Free. Let it dry, then glove.
2. 2
   Between every patientGloves off, then I.C. Foaming Hand Sanitizer or Sanitizing Cream, rubbed in until it’s absorbed and dry, before fresh gloves.
3. 3
   At lunchWash, then lotion while your hands are out of gloves for a while.
4. 4
   After the last appointmentLotion once more, or I.C. Advanced Repair Hand Cream on chapped or cracked hands.

Follow your practice’s infection-control program, and use the sanitizers as directed on their labels.