Most patients have many options when choosing a medical provider. It is important that when your patients first walk into your office “professional” is the first thing they see. When a new patient visits, the first impression they have of your space will no doubt impact their general understanding of the quality of your services and your attention to detail.

Your dental care experience begins long before the patient sits down in their chair. That is why a high-quality, template dental office cleaning checklist is so important for any dental office. You may provide high-quality care, but if your office appears in disarray or unclean, you might not have a second chance to prove your worth to your patients.

Even more so, apart from all the reasons your patients care about a clean office, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the Center for Disease Control (CDC) also both have guidelines for keeping dental offices clean and disinfected to keep your patients and staff safe.

For all these reasons, a dental office cleaning checklist specific to your dental practice’s needs is important in keeping your office clean, warm, and welcoming. Not only is this beneficial for your staff and patients’ safety and comfort, but also in your business’s long-term success.

Why Stick to a Dental Office Maintenance Checklist

There are many things to consider when putting together a comprehensive cleaning template.

The best way to break down all the areas in your office and when they should be cleaned is to begin by determining which areas receive the most traffic and to make a schedule based on that.

Consider the patient experience – what they first see when they walk into the office and the places they are taken during their time there. That will give you a good place to start on your daily cleaning focus areas. From there, you can think about your less regular tasks.

To help, we have broken this down for you. Below is a checklist that will help identify the many things that need to be done to clean your dental office, in a clear and manageable way.

Dental Office Cleaning Template Checklist

Read below for a dental office maintenance checklist that will ensure your dental office facilities are in the best shape possible. This checklist breaks down areas to clean and disinfect based on daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, and periodic cleaning tasks.

Daily Cleaning Tasks

Patient Areas:

  • Wipe down X-ray equipment.
  • Disinfect patient chairs, armrests, and headrests.
  • Sanitize all hard surfaces in patient rooms (counters, other chairs, light switches, doorknobs, and drawer handles).

Reception/Waiting Area:

  • Throw away any loose trash or empty food and water containers.
  • Wipe down computer keyboards and mice.
  • Sanitize guest pens and the reception desk area.
  • Disinfect light switches and phone receivers.
  • Sanitize all toys in the children’s play area (if applicable).
  • Wipe down waiting area chairs, tables, and door handles.
  • Organize magazines or other reading materials in the patient waiting area.
  • Empty waste bins and replace them with a new trash bag, if needed.
  • Straighten up patient charts, loose paperwork, mail, etc.
  • Vacuum waiting and reception area.
  • Straighten waiting area furniture.

Bathrooms:

  • Scrub toilets and urinals.
  • Restock paper towels and toilet paper, as needed.
  • Sweep floors. Mop as necessary.
  • Wipe down countertops.
  • Sanitize door handles, toilets, light switches, and faucet handles.
  • Check soap dispensers and hand sanitizer dispensers.

Kitchen/Break Rooms:

  • Load/run/or empty dishwasher, as necessary.
  • Empty and clean out the coffee maker.
  • Restock paper towel, as needed.
  • Sweep floors. Mop, as necessary.
  • Wipe down countertops.
  • Sanitize door handles, countertops, light switches, and faucet handles.
  • Check soap dispensers and hand sanitizer dispensers.

Weekly Cleaning Tasks

Patient Areas:

  • Sweep, vacuum, and/or thoroughly mop all floors.
  • Disinfect waste bins. Replace with a new trash bag.
  • Clear cobwebs and dust from corners.
  • Dust any cabinets, photo frames, artwork, shelves, and desks, working from top to bottom.
  • Vacuum/wipe down floor mats and rugs.

Reception/Waiting Area:

  • Sweep, vacuum, and/or thoroughly mop all floors.
  • Dust any cabinets, photo frames, artwork, shelves, and desks, working from top to bottom.
  • Check tissue boxes. Replace as needed.
  • Disinfect waste bins. Replace with a new trash bag.
  • Shred confidential documents, as needed.
  • Clear cobwebs and dust from corners.
  • Vacuum/wipe down floor mats and rugs.

Bathroom:

  • Mop all floors thoroughly.
  • Wipe down bathroom mirror(s).
  • Disinfect waste bins. Replace with a new trash bag.
  • Dust/wipe down floor mats and rugs.
  • Clear and cobwebs and dust from corners.

Kitchen/Break Rooms:

  • Mop floors thoroughly, moving all tables, stools, and chairs.
  • Wipe down all countertops, moving appliances as needed.
  • Disinfect waste bins. Replace with a new trash bag.
  • Clear and cobwebs and dust from corners.
  • Dust/wipe down floor mats.
  • Clean out the refrigerator, throwing away unmarked food.
  • Wipe down the inside and outside of the refrigerator.

Monthly and Periodic Dental Office Cleaning Checklist

In addition to daily and weekly to-dos, your dental office should routinely undergo deeper monthly cleaning tasks and periodic office inspections. Read below for a biweekly dental office cleaning schedule template, monthly cleaning tasks, and periodic office checklists.

Bi-Weekly Cleaning Tasks

There are overarching bi-weekly cleaning tasks that should be considered, in addition to those broken down by specific areas.

  • Discarding clinical waste: All dental offices have bins of discarded waste. Keeping these clean regularly prevents the growth of bacteria and germs. Clinical wastes specifically should be discarded in accordance with industry standards as defined by the environmental protection act (EPA) for disposing of dental wastes, or offices will be subject to hefty fines.
  • Take inventory and restock all supplies as necessary, including:
    • Toilet Paper
    • Paper Towel
    • Soap
    • Hand Sanitizer
    • Trash Bags
    • Tissues
    • Cleaning Supplies

Monthly Cleaning Tasks

Patient Area:

  • Wipe down or vacuum all patient waiting room chairs.
  • Vacuum all room vents.
  • Dust all surfaces, including baseboards, working from top to bottom.
  • Dust and/or wash blinds.
  • Check any curtains or window treatment for freshness. Wash as needed.
  • Clean window sills
  • Use glass cleaner to wipe down all glass surfaces (windows, glass tables, etc.)
  • Polish and wood/linoleum floors, as necessary.

Reception/Waiting Area:

  • Vacuum all chairs and wipe down any plastic or leather chairs.
  • Polish and wood/linoleum floors, as necessary.
  • Vacuum all reception/waiting area vents.
  • Dust all surfaces, including baseboards, working from top to bottom.
  • Dust light fixtures and tops of photo frames.
  • Replace old reading materials in the waiting room.
  • Use a glass cleaner to wipe down all glass surfaces (windows, glass tables, etc.)
  • Check any curtains or window treatments for freshness. Wash as needed.
  • Clean window sills

Breakroom and/or Kitchen:

  • Polish and wood/linoleum floors, as necessary.
  • Vacuum all chairs and wipe down and plastic or kitchen/breakroom chairs.
  • Use glass cleaner to wipe down all glass surfaces (windows, glass tables, etc.).
  • Dust and/or wash blinds.
  • Check any curtains or window treatments for freshness. Wash as needed.
  • Clean window sills.
  • Run vinegar through the coffee maker to deep clean it.

Bathroom

  • Dust and/or wash blinds.
  • Polish and wood/linoleum floors, as necessary.
  • Use a glass cleaner to wipe down all glass surfaces (windows, etc.).
  • Check any curtains or window treatments for freshness. Wash as needed.
  • Clean window sills.

Periodic Cleaning Services

On top of your existing daily, weekly, and monthly scheduled cleaning needs, it is important to be aware of even more periodic office upkeep that might include:

  • Upholstery deep cleaning for waiting area chairs, other soft furnishings, carpets, etc.
  • Stain removal for carpet and upholstery.
  • Checking light bulbs for a potential replacement.
  • Cleaning behind appliances.
  • Wiping down ceiling fan blades.
  • Cleaning out of cabinets and drawers.
  • Cleaning window sills and window tracks.

Mint Condition’s Professional Dental Office Cleaning Services

One of the best ways to manage your dental office’s cleaning needs is to find a medical office cleaning specialist who can partner with you to manage the details around keeping your dental office spotless.

This allows you to focus on your daily tasks while feeling confident that your office is up to the necessary high-quality cleaning standards required by OSHA and the CDC. The American Dental Association recommends that you hire a professional dental office cleaning service for these very reasons, among others.

Mint Condition is one such company that wants to help you. Mint Condition is a commercial cleaning and janitorial service that has the tools and expertise to understand what your office needs and how to keep it up to the standard levels of required sanitation.

Not only that, but Mint Condition also requires that their teams are fully educated on what standards are required to keep medical offices clean. They have created a carefully curated team of individuals who have been vetted on the CDC’s cleaning guidelines.

They will always utilize electrostatic cleaning and disinfectant products to ensure the most complete disinfectant coverage possible of your office equipment and furniture.

More than just providing distinguished, OSHA and CDC compliant cleaning and janitorial services, Mint Condition also offers a guarantee that you will be satisfied with their results.

It is their goal to take away the worry that you will have to micro-manage a cleaning company to meet your dental office’s needs. Instead, they offer peace of mind that you will never have to be concerned about whether your dental office is clean again.

Talk to a Mind Condition expert today. They would love to work with you to design a customized cleaning plan that meets your dental office’s specific needs.

Conclusion

To your incoming patients, your dental office reflects the quality of your service and your attention to detail. Having a pristine, well-organized space is not only better for your patients’ experience and safety, but it also sets a standard of excellence that your patients will be drawn to.

Make your dental office warm, welcoming, and the best in its class by implementing a high quality dental office cleaning checklist. The most important thing when doing this is to break down your cleaning needs into daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, to help keep the process manageable.

But perhaps even most importantly, your best option is likely to enlist assistance with the daily management of your office’s cleaning. Consider working with a company that can manage some of the more detailed, regulated aspects of meeting your dental office cleaning and sanitization needs.