Nitrile Gloves Latex Free — ORE Part 1 MCQ
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Correct answer: B — Nitrile examination gloves
Explanation lettering: E = shown as A · A = shown as B · D = shown as C · C = shown as D · B = shown as E
The correct answer is A: Nitrile examination gloves. Nitrile is a synthetic copolymer (acrylonitrile-butadiene) that does not contain natural rubber latex proteins. UK dental hospitals have adopted nitrile as the standard latex-free glove material for all latex-allergic patients. Options B–E all contain or may contain natural rubber latex: conventional rubber dams are inherently latex-based; natural latex gloves explicitly contain latex; orthodontic elastics and some endodontic stops are typically manufactured from natural rubber, though latex-free variants exist (the qualifier "some" reflects this but still identifies latex as the common material in these categories). Nitrile alone is uniformly latex-free by chemical definition and is the only option that does not pose a latex allergy risk.
Reference: The use of latex and non-latex gloves and dental equipment in UK and Irish dental hospitals. British Dental Journal. 2021. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34489545/