How safe are the dental tubes that suck up water, etc. from your mouth?

Hi,


At the dentist, they have disposable tube tips to suck out the water,etc. in your mouth. They throw the plastic part out and replace between patients. Thid disposable part attaches to the main apparatus doesn't get sanitized until the night. I am concerned (though I believe this is common practice) because many people's mouths bleed during dental procedures and this would suck up the blood. Hence, this blood would go in the tube (not touching any air). When they use that tube, you feel a bit of wetness as it sucks. How can I be assured that someone else's fluids/blood is not coming back up. This particular instrument makes me particularly nervous at the dentist's office...I obviously am paranoid about catching something from someone. If someone is a dentist or even a hygienist, I would love for you to better explain this tool to me. Maybe I could request that they don't use it on me next time...Is that a possibility?

How safe are the dental tubes that suck up water, etc. from your mouth?
The suction lines are flushed between patients (or at least they should be) and that would make your concerns unfounded.
Reply:i'm a dental assistant and in charge of dealing with the suctions in the office. all the fluid that it sucks in goes down the hose passed the machine and directly flushed out. and depending on what kind of suction machine they have, the traps are to be changed regularly. we also use plastic barriers on the disposable suctions until they are ready to be used and pull the plastic down to the handle when we use it. we spray the area after each patient as well.





oh and i'm not sure if you can get away with not using a suction especially if you're doing a big procedure that requires your mouth to be open for a long time and rinses your teeth frequently during the procedure,