More importantly, the transition from knowing to doing something about it has taken a serious amount of time.
Dental clients are very aware of disease transmission today.
We have known for years that Dental Technicians have had a greater occupational risk of Hepatitis B than Dentists or Auxiliaries. It used to be that the word Disinfection was only heard in surgery rooms in hospitals. We all knew there were bacteria somewhere out there, but they never, ever came close to affecting our lives. Bacteria and viruses are too small to be seen, in fact they have to be in millions before we can recognize them as a colony. We never realize the power of microbes until we are affected by them.