EDITORIAL

The majority of dental surgeries are in professional localities, often converted from previous dwelling areas.

The development of the practice of oral surgery, periodontics and implantology by the surgeon-dentist has entailed new requirements concerning the rules of asepsis and sterilisation.

The surgeon-dentist must integrate hygiene and asepsis into daily practice, as well as fulfill his ethical and legal obligations.

Many of the procedures of our practice are classified « high risk » and, crucially, require the use of invasive medical devices such as syringes, scalpels, elevators, curettes, etc.

Paul Mattout, Editor of the JPIO, took the initiative to dedicate this special issue to hygiene and the asepsis, subjects that today have become inescapable factors for the safety of patients treated in the dental surgeries.

With Guillaume Drouhet, co-editor of this special issue, we have targeted, on the one hand, activities centred on the practice of periodontology, implantology and on implant-supported prostheses and, on the other hand, emphasised practical advice applicable to the dental surgery situation, whilst avoiding all dogmatism and all unrealistic analysis.

We have developed a rational organisation for the dental surgery for optimal hygiene-asepsis by describing, in the first place, the maintenance of the area, then the principles of housekeeping, of decontamination and sterilisation since, as Roland Zeitoun has been teaching us for many years, one can only sterilise what is clean!

Furthermore, it is no longer necessary to practice in a surgical unit to comply with the rules of asepsis. The benefit to be gained is linked as much to the way in which the procedure is carried out, and to the knowledge of the practitioner, as to the place of intervention.

We have dealt specifically with the practice of periodontal surgery, implantology and also of implant-borne prostheses. The latter implies the use many metallic components, often supplied in sterile packs, but as they are sometimes fitted at the same time as the surgery is undertaken, (in cases of immediate loading, for example) special care is indicated.

Finally, we approached the medico-legal aspect that is more and more important in our work. Recently, some patients have taken action in the courts because they had implants inserted in a dental surgery and not in a surgical unit!

This special issue is, therefore, rich in information and in teaching and our wish is that it fully meets the expectation of our readers.