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Introduction: Oral and dental diseases have become a major public health concern in both developed and developing countries. Nepal does not have adequate financial or human resources or the capacity to manage the epidemics of the infectious and communicable diseases. Dental surgeons have to work in a pathogen–rich, often blood, and contaminated environment.

Objective: To assess the current practice of sterilization among the private dental clinics of Kathmandu valley.

Materials and Method: A sample of dental surgeons owning their private dental clinics were interviewed and their responses were carefully and systematically noted.

Result: The survey revealed that only 34% of the dentists were using the-autoclave in their clinics while maximum (40%) used hot air oven and quarter of the clinics used boiling water devices as the sterilizing instrument. It was found that 90°/0 of the dental surgeons washed their hands before the examination and majority (64%) washed it with water and antiseptic. It was found that 33°/1 of the dentists were using soap and water for hand washing which was adequate for examination of the patients and while doing non-surgical procedures as soap and water will remove transient microorganisms acquired directly or indirectly from patient contact.

Conclusion: The present study found that most dentists comply with the guidelines; however, many do not utilize the full range of recommended infection control procedures that are necessary to minimize the risk of cross infection in dental practice.

Dental clinics; cross infection; infection control; standard precaution.