Prevalence of manufacturing defects in latex examination gloves used in selected dental practices in central Saudi Arabia.

OBJECTIVE To assess the defect rates in latex examination gloves used in selected dental practices in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. METHODS In this cross-sectional study, a total of 796 latex examination gloves were collected from 5 governmental hospitals and 5 private dental practices between April 2012 and May 2012. The gloves were assessed for presence of defects visually (VT) and using water inflation test (WIT). One and 2 sample t-tests were used to assess significant differences in defect rates among each latex brand, and between governmental hospitals and private dental practices. RESULTS Defects in latex gloves were more likely to be identified using WIT compared with VT (20.2% versus 4.3%, p=0.000). Using WIT, examined latex gloves had a defect rate approximately 8 times the acceptable quality level of 2.5% (20.2%, p=0.000). Using WIT, gloves used in private dental practices had significantly higher defect rates compared with governmental dental clinics (25.6% versus 14.6%, p=0.006). CONCLUSION Most latex examination gloves used in the sampled governmental dental clinics and private dental practices in Riyadh had significantly higher preexisting defect rates than acceptable standard levels.