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mucosa), this rate of anaphylaxis cases continues to increase. Both dentist and patient are at risk, and the deception
that everything is safe cannot ethically be maintained.
Miscellaneous Hazards
Gloves also produce other problems not previously mentioned.
1. Latex has a negative taste and “sour rubber” odor to many people. 42 Multi-flavored gimmick gloves are a poor
attempt to correct this problem.
2. Hands are compressed by the elasticity of latex gloves. This restricts the flow of blood, which increases tension
and muscle fatigue. 43 Although proper fit is important, the recommended snug fit is a disadvantage of glove use due
to the elastic nature of latex and the wearer’s nerve pathology caused by the constant compression. 35
3. Gloves impede productivity by restricting movement, limiting manual dexterity and consuming time while gloving
and degloving. 22,37,45 Assuming it takes 30 seconds to put on or take off gloves for each patient, a dentist who
treats 100 patients a week for 50 weeks of the year loses 83 hours of productivity annually. This makes dentistry
less efficient, more costly and deprives the relative poor of needed care.
4. Many patients, especially small children, are offended by the use of gloves. 35 They interpret gloves as a threat
or as an insult that they are dirty or diseased. This level of mistrust interferes with positive doctor/patient relationships.
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5. The use of gloves has become an issue among the media, patients and dentists. 4,35 Many patients insist on being
treated with or without gloves based on information gleaned from magazine articles, news reports and word of
mouth. Most patients believe gloves are being worn for their protection, but OSHA recommends barrier protection
for the expressed benefit of the dentist and other members of the dental staff, not the patient. 2 There will be serious
consequences when the media learns that most dentists are treating their patients with contaminated exam
gloves.
6. There are additional problems associated with wearing gloves. The use of adhesives, impression materials and
electric pulp testers, which require direct skin contact, are all compromised. 45
7. Gloves are made of latex and plastic, which deplete natural resources, divert crop land (in the starving Third
World) from food production and engorge our limited waste landfills with useless, unrecyclable garbage. If not
buried, most gloves, being considered medical waste, are incinerated, producing hydrocarbon air pollution, CO2,
and increasing the effects of global warming. Therefore, gloves are not green.
Politics
The most serious deceptions are in the political arena. The directives on Universal Precautions came from the Centers
for Disease Control, a branch of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This decision was made by a closed
committee of public health bureaucrats, most of whom had never been in dental practice. It was an attempt to silence
the AIDS panic, not to find the most efficient form of disease prevention.
Surgeon General Koop devised and promoted his UP concept for medical and dental personnel without any consideration
of cost or effectiveness or outside input. On October 29, 1999, The New York Times printed an expose reporting
Koop was financially tied to a prominent glove firm, Allegiance Healthcare Corp. The article stated that he had received
options to purchase 500,000 stock shares of the firm for a 1994 (low) price in exchange for four lectures per year and
advertising rights to his name. This involved millions of dollars. Koop was accused of also trying to downplay the allergy
danger issue in Congress because, as he told CDC representatives, “It would cause more harm than good and
frighten hospital workers out of using gloves.” Eventually Koop ended up with a failed health care Web site, worthless
stock, angry investors and a TV ad contract to sell “first alert” medical warning devices to the elderly. It seems that science
was not a part of this formula.
It is amazing that dentists, their organizations, OSHA, dental boards and America as a whole accepted the pronouncements
from the CDC, an organization of questionable authority and candor, without debate. The CDC has flubbed many
health initiatives, the latest being the severity and criticalness of the H1N1 flu outbreak and botched vaccine supply.
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