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How to Disinfect & Sanitize Your Dental Practice Without Toxic Chemicals

How to Keep Your Dental Practice Protected from Germs Without Toxic Chemicals

Keeping your dental practice sparkling clean and protected from sickness-causing germs is mission critical and no small task. Protecting staff and patients from toxic cleaning chemicals isn’t easy either, but there are some new reasons to be extra choosy about what you use.

Recent studies show that chronic exposure to the 3 most common cleaning chemicals, bleach, quaternary ammonia compounds (quats or QACs), and fragrances, over the long term can:

Cause lung damage equivalent to smoking a pack of cigarettes a day
Increase the risk of COPD by up to 45%
Increase the risk that pregnant women will have children with asthma by up to 70%.

If you see children in your practice, you might be especially surprised to know that young children frequently exposed to cleaning products can be up to 50% more likely to have asthma.

Besides causing asthma and allergies, these chemicals can trigger dangerous reactions in people who already have these conditions. Estimates are that 30% of US adults and 40% of US children suffer from asthma or allergies. In fact, the CDC recommends not using cleaning products with quaternary ammonium compounds (quats or QACs), bleach, or fragrances around this population.

So, how do you avoid these 3 types of cleaning chemicals given that they’re so ubiquitous? We’re going to make it easy for you.

1. Quats or QACs are lurking in most of the wipes, sanitizer and disinfectant sprays out there. They are associated with a broad range of health issues including allergies and asthma, as well as fertility issues & birth defects. Your best chance at avoiding them are to skip products with ingredient names including benzalkonium chloride and names that end in “ammonium chloride” (or similar).

2. You can spot bleach on ingredient labels more easily than QACs because it’s either called “bleach” or “sodium hydroxide”.

3. Fragrances – due to a regulatory loophole, the 1 word word “fragrance” on a label can actually mask a cocktail of dozens of toxic ingredients including pthalates. The reason phthalates are in so many scented products is they help the scents linger.
Phthalates can have long-term health consequences for both adults and children, from respiratory problems and cancer to endocrine disruption.

A Safer Approach to Disinfecting & Cleaning for Dental Practices

We know dental practices work really hard to keep their patients and staff safe from germs. At Force of Nature, our mission is to end the compromise between cleaning and health, for people and our planet.
Our appliances use electricity to convert tap water, plus a tiny capsule of salt, water and vinegar, into an all-in-1 cleaning, deodorizing, sanitizing, and disinfecting formula that meets the EPA’s stringent germ-kill requirements. Our formula is a medical-grade EPA registered disinfectant that kills 99.9% of germs and is on the EPA’s List N, the disinfectants approved for use against SARS-CoV-2, the cause of Covid-19. It contains no toxic chemicals, residues or fumes and disinfects with no need to rinse.

If you’re looking for some easy ways to make your practice more sustainable, we have some good news there too! Force of Nature reduces plastic waste 98% and is Carbon Neutral certified and Green Seal certified for meeting the highest standards in protecting health, ensuring clean water, preserving the climate, and minimizing waste.

When it comes to cleaning effectiveness, our toxin-free formula is just as effective as Windex on glass, Formula 409 on grease, Scrubbing Bubbles on soap scum, Febreze on odors, and Resolve on rugs. You can see lab test results vs the leading brands here. Just as great? We priced it to be affordable to anyone who wants to be more sustainable, so it costs up to 80% less per oz than the leading brands.