The Clean Bite: The Dirty Truth About Stethoscopes…and What Dentistry Can Learn From It

In November 2025, Infection Control Today® (ICT®) published a fascinating and eye-opening article by lead editor Tori Whitacre Martonicz titled “The Dirty Truth About Stethoscopes: Why This Everyday Tool Deserves Attention.” The column highlighted a panel discussion of infection preventionists who took a closer look at a device used countless times every day by physicians, nurses, and PAs: the stethoscope. Many of us think of the stethoscope as a harmless diagnostic tool, but the article reveals a far more concerning truth—stethoscopes frequently carry significant bacterial loads, sometimes harboring antibiotic-resistant organisms.

While reading this piece, I found myself thinking, this is exactly the kind of issue dentistry grapples with, too every single day. Infection control is only as strong as the weakest link, and both medicine and dentistry rely heavily on reusable equipment that can become cross-contamination risks without proper cleaning protocols.

In this blog, I want to unpack the key lessons from the ICT article, highlight the parallels in dentistry, and explain why awareness, protocols, and training matter more than ever, especially as dental technology evolves and patient expectations for safety continue to rise.

A Hospital Outbreak With Unexpected Origins

The ICT article begins with a story that would catch anyone’s attention: in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, a small hospital in Lebanon experienced an alarming cluster of cases involving Acinetobacter, a bacterium known for being notoriously resistant to antibiotics, including some strains that resist all of them.

As infection preventionist Elsy Mady, MS, BSN, RN, explained, she started receiving positive cultures from several patients that simply didn’t make sense based on their symptoms, demographics, or exposure histories. Something else was going on.

After a thorough investigation, the team discovered the shocking source:

The bacteria were living inside a physician’s stethoscope.

Even more concerning, the device had been surface-disinfected, but the bacteria had taken hold within the tubing—an area not typically disinfected by routine wipe-down procedures.

This discovery raises a key question:

How many “clean” tools in healthcare are actually not clean at all?

Stethoscopes, which touch patient after patient, are often wiped down quickly, yet research continues to show they can harbor high bacterial loads similar to those found on the hands of healthcare providers. In the panel discussion, experts emphasized that routine cleaning alone isn't enough if protocols are not followed meticulously, if training is inconsistent, or if staff view cleaning as optional rather than essential.

The panelists made an important point: Real infection prevention requires muscle memory—confidence built through education, trust, repetition, and systems that make doing the right thing the easy thing.

Dentistry: The Same Problem, Different Tools

As I read the article, I immediately thought about dentistry. Our tools may differ from stethoscopes, but the challenges are identical.

In the November 2025 issue of The Clean Bite, I explored these issues in my column “Single-Use vs Reusable Dental Supplies: What Is the Difference and Why It Matters.” Dentistry is increasingly using complex reusable equipment—handpieces, motors, air/water syringes, ultrasonic scaler components—and each of these requires thoughtful, thorough cleaning.

And yet, many dental practices assume that sterilization alone solves everything.

But here’s the truth:

If a reusable device isn’t cleaned properly before sterilization, sterilization may not be effective at all.

This is where I’ve been collaborating with the team at RiteWipe, who developed a wipe capable of removing up to 99.9% of surface blood and bacterial contaminants from handpieces and motors without harsh chemicals. Products like this help bridge the dangerous gap between hurried cleaning and proper presterilization preparation.

But tools alone aren’t enough if the mindset and workflow aren’t there.

Real Talk: We Don’t Always Clean as Well as We Think We Do

Let me get personal for a moment. In all my years as a dental assistant, I’ll admit: I did not always do the best job cleaning reusable equipment. Not because I didn’t care, but because the environment itself often made thorough cleaning difficult.

Think about the daily pace in most dental offices. At any moment:

• A dentist may have multiple patients in multiple chairs.
• Assistants rotate rooms quickly.
• Patients are waiting.
• Schedules are packed.
• Stress is high.

Early in my career, I worked for a wildly popular dentist. We regularly had 2, sometimes 3, patients in rotation. That meant speedy operatory turnover—clean, reset, seat the next person—as fast as humanly possible.

And when you're moving that fast, it's easy to fall into the trap of thinking:

“This looks clean. This is good enough.”

However, “good enough” in dentistry is often not good enough.

For years, I never knew—no one had taught me—that most disinfectants require a specific wet-contact kill time. If your wipe dries before the kill time is achieved? It didn’t actually disinfect. It only cleaned. Many dental clinicians are unaware of this critical distinction.

And that leads to problems.

Training Gaps: The Hidden Weak Link

Most states allow on-the-job training (OJT) for dental assistants. And while OJT is practical and cost‑effective, it also means:

• We learn from whoever trains us.
• We inherit their habits—good or bad.

• “We’ve always done it this way” becomes the rule.
• Infection control training varies dramatically.
• Only 4 states require formal infection control training for dental assistants.

Even for assistants who graduate from accredited programs, the office they join often “retrains” them to match its established workflow—sometimes replacing established protocol with shortcuts.

Because of this:

Cleaning remains one of the most commonly skipped or improperly performed infection control steps in dentistry.

Reusable dental equipment is characterized by grooves, hinges, seams, threads, and narrow surfaces that collect debris. Even a small amount of dried blood or saliva can interfere with sterilization.

And we make it worse when we accidentally sabotage our own disinfecting wipes…

Let’s Talk About That Open Wipes Canister

Every dental assistant on earth has seen it:

You enter an operatory to start turnover and find the container of premoistened wipes sitting wide open. This matters more than people realize.

When the canister is left open:

• Disinfectant evaporates
• Wipes become dry or partially dried
• The concentration of active ingredients decreases
• The wipe is no longer effective for cleaning or disinfecting

If your wipe cannot saturate a surface, it cannot disinfect it—period.

This is why I have always been a fan of the Spray/Wipe/Spray method:

1. Spray to clean.
2. Wipe to remove debris.
3. Spray again to fully wet the surface for the Environmental Protection Agency-required kill time.

Just make sure products are surface‑compatible before adopting this method.

The 2-Step Cleaning and Disinfecting Process

Manufacturers are clear:

Cleaning and disinfecting are 2 separate steps.

However, in many practices, clinicians use wipes as if they were a 1-step solution. Here’s what should be happening:

Step 1: Cleaning

• Remove visible debris.
• Use wipes, soap, and water, or specialized precleaners.
• Make sure every groove, seam, and crevice is addressed.

Step 2: Disinfecting

• Use fresh wipes.
• Apply the disinfectant.
• Ensure the surface stays wet for the entire kill time.

For example:

• CaviWipes→ 3‑minute TB kill time
• CaviWipes1 → 1‑minute TB kill time

If the surface dries in 30 seconds?
The disinfectant didn’t work.

Want to see the proper way to clean and disinfect the operatory? Here is a short video for your viewing pleasure.

Better Products Mean Better Outcomes

We are lucky to live in a time when innovative products can make our lives easier and our practices safer.

Tools like:

• RiteWipe for precleaning handpieces and motors (also known to effectively clean the upholstery on your dental chair)
• Enzymatic foams, gels, and sprays to keep debris from drying on reusable instruments
• High-touch surface cleaners designed for dental equipment

These products are not magic; they still require proper use, but they greatly reduce the risk of cross-contamination when integrated into a solid infection‑control workflow.

It’s important to remember that operatory surfaces, reusable instruments, and high-touch components all have different cleaning needs. An enzymatic spray intended for instruments is not suitable for chair-mounted electronics, for example.

How Do We Improve Turnover Time Without Cutting Corners?

This is where dentistry struggles. We want speed and thoroughness, but traditional cleaning routines can feel time-consuming.

So how do we bridge the gap?

1. Train continuously, not just once

Repetition builds muscle memory. Muscle memory builds safe habits.

2. Use 2 wipe systems

• One set of wipes for cleaning
• One set of wipes for disinfecting

This reduces cross-contamination and saves time.

3. Preclean immediately after use

Stopping bioburden from drying buys you time and improves sterilization outcomes.

4. Create a standardized workflow

Everyone should clean rooms using the same steps in the same order.

5. Build a culture of safety, not shortcuts

This is the hardest—and most important—part.

Conclusion: Small Steps Protect Patients in Big Ways

The story of the contaminated stethoscope isn’t just a medical problem; it’s a universal lesson for every health care environment, including dentistry. The tools we rely on every day can become sources of patient harm if we don’t take cleaning and disinfection seriously.

By understanding the importance of the cleaning step, recognizing training gaps, improving workflows, and using products designed to simplify the process, dental teams can ensure safer care, not just faster care.

Proper infection control doesn’t slow us down. It protects us, our teams, and our patients.

Until next time, my friends—
Stay informed. Stay clean. Stay safe.

🦷✨ — Sherrie, The Clean Bite