The topic of interest for today was infection control. Safety of the dental healthcare practitioner, other memebers of the healthcare team, and the patient are paramount. There are numerous legal bodies enforcing rules which allow for everyone to work and be treated in a safe environment. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) acts as a non-regulatory body which monitors and maintains records for diseases in the US, and makes recommendations on what constitutes safe guidelines. These rules are enforced by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Further guidelines are laid out by state regulatory bodies, which supercede those of OSHA.
The regulation of bloodborne pathogens monitors many different areas and situations that occur in a dental setting. These include topics such as hand hygiene, protection from sharp injury (ie. needlesticks), sterilization of equipment, water quality, etc.
The best way for a dentist to protect himself or herself, the staff, and patients from bloodborne pathogens is to promote the use of standard precautions. These include wearing masks, eyewear, gloves, handwashing and coats to cover up exposed skin. Patients should wear eye wear to protect themselves as well.
Common sense goes a long way too!
Histology was a review of a lecture which focused on muscle tissue and nerve tissue. Since these topics have a bunch of information made easily available by the web, I'll summarize both as quickly as possible
Muscle cells are striated, and undergo contraction through the movement of actin and myosin filaments by way of nervous stimulation. The microfilaments are arranged in a specific banding pattern, with I bands (only thin filaments), H zones (only thick filaments), and others. Muscle fibers are divided into three types: Type 1 (slow twitch), Type 2a (fast twitch, fatigue-resistant), and Type 2b (fast twitch, fatigue-prone). Muscle cells are found in three distinct types of muscle tissue: skeletal muscle cells (multinuclated and striated), smooth muscle cells (mononucleated, non-striated), and cardiac muscle cells (mononucleated and striated).
Nerves send impulses to muscles and organs to illicit function. A simple nerve consists of dendrites, soma, and an axon (in differing forms). Two specific types of neurons include sensory neurons (afferent) and motor neurons (efferent). They are often sheathed by myelin and myelin-producing cells. Schwann cells produce myelin in the PNS, and oligodendrocytes produce myelin in the CNS.
Obviously the topic goes into greater depth, but this will give you a small idea of what was talked about.
No comments:
Post a Comment