The efficiency of a school-based dental sealant program depends upon preparations made before the dental equipment is delivered to the school. Programs make a variety of arrangements for transporting equipment. In some cases, staff use their own personal vehicles. When the program is sponsored by an agency (e.g., city, county, or state health department, community health center), program staff or school staff might use agency-owned vans.
Equipment and supplies need to be well organized so they can be unpacked and set up as dental operatories quickly. In programs with two or more dental hygienist and dental assistant teams, assistants may have their own equipment and supplies that they are responsible for maintaining. Storage containers should have labels identifying their contents and the team to which they belong so the equipment and supplies can be easily sorted on the day the equipment is delivered.
Either on the day before the program is scheduled to begin, or early in the morning on the same day, dental equipment should be delivered to the school and placed in the area where the program will operate. All equipment setup and breakdown, sterilization, instrument-tray preparation, and paperwork should occur before students are seen.
The setup process involves creating treatment areas and a sterilization area, if non-disposable instruments are used. Before dental operatories are set up, program staff should locate electrical outlets and determine where each operatory will be placed. Supplies around operatories are placed within reach. Storage containers for transporting supplies can double as tables. A large trash can, if lined with plastic, can be used to transport supplies and then later can be used as the trash receptacle. Tray tables can be set up on either side of operatories, so that the operator uses one table to hold a laptop computer or tablet or student records, parent notes, and referral forms (which the operator completes after applying dental sealants for each student), and the dental assistant uses one table to hold extra disposable supplies and sealant materials.
Containers placed behind the dental assistant can hold prepared instrument trays, hand wipes, toothbrushes, foil wraps for dental lights, sunglasses for student eye protection, and extra supplies that may be needed as the day progresses. A storage container beside the dental hygienist can hold gloves, masks, and antibacterial wipes. If reusable instruments are used, a dishpan placed under the tray table next to the dental assistant can serve as a receptacle for contaminated instruments that were used to place dental sealants.
If reusable instruments are used, the sterilization area should be set up near the treatment area. It is important to identify and maintain a clean side and a dirty side within the sterilization area. Equipment and supplies normally include a sterilizer, an ultrasonic cleaner, containers with rinse water, sterilizer bags, paper towels, and gloves. Extra supplies needed for sterilization may be stored under the sterilization table or in another convenient, clean location. If disposable equipment is used, this additional space is not needed.
Another area should be reserved for backup equipment, extra supplies, and empty bags and containers. This area should be easily accessible so the supplies and equipment can be retrieved as needed.
While preparing the operatories, one school-based dental sealant program staff member can check to see if any signed parental consent forms were returned to the school since the forms were collected. Student health histories also need to be reviewed, if necessary, and, for students who do not have records, student records need to be prepared or entered into the school-based dental sealant program database.
