Dentists' failings put patients in danger

Overall, 71 per cent of the dental practices visited were meeting "essential quality requirements" to reduce the risk from re-usable dental instruments, with one in five meeting "best practice" guidelines.

Almost 20 per cent more practices could reach this standard with "small improvements to their technical performance, protocols and by better maintenance of decontamination equipment."

However, the survey found that the cleaning of instruments was one area where performance was "uneven" and there were problems with using washers, transferring instruments and testing equipment.

The document said: "Effective cleaning of instruments is critical to the achievement of a sterilised instrument at the end of the decontamination process."