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| Dr. Kunio Komiyama |
A proposal is now on the books to require the province’s dentists to test their sterilizing equipment at least monthly — and no one is happier about it than Dr. Kunio Komiyama, of the U of S College of Dentistry
As head of the Biological Diagnostics and Surgical Sciences Dept., Komiyama has long been a promoter of more testing of dentists’ sterilizing equipment.
Noting that the provincial government last year required tattoo parlors and body-piercing salons to have their sterilizing equipment tested for optimal operation at least once a month, the College of Dental Surgeons of Saskatchewan (CDSS) recently recommended that the provincial Health Department approve a new CDSS bylaw to require the same of dentists.
“We should be giving this [testing regimen] serious consideration for our profession, rather than waiting for the government to require that we at least come up to the standard of tattoo parlors,” Dr. Maureen Tynan, chair of the CDSS’s Health Care Committee stated in a recent report.
CDSS Registrar Dr. George Peacock says dentists typically sterilize their ‘hand pieces’ and water-line units between each of their patients. He says the point of the College’s new bylaw is to provide “a further level of insurance” against infection for patients.
Peacock hopes the government will approve the recommendation — the first such in Canada — by the end of this year.
Komiyama conducts biological monitoring (spore tests) of dental sterilizers on a fee-for-service basis and uses the revenue for scholarships and other programs in the College.
The increased frequency of mandated sterilizer testing will increase the amount of money he’ll be able to earn and then allocate to scholarships, continuing education initiatives, and equipment purchases in the College of Dentistry.
For example, his $500 ‘Bird Man Scholarships’ are currently allocated to three students who demonstrate excellence in infection control measures in their clinical practices. (During the bubonic plague in 17th-century Europe, ‘bird men’ donned large smocks and bird-like masks for protection against the disease.) Komiyama hopes the number of these scholarships can double when the government approves the new testing bylaw.
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