In 2007, the American Heart Association (AHA) revised its evidence-based Guidelines for the Prevention of Infective Endocarditis, asserting its position on which patients should take precautionary antibiotics to prevent infective endocarditis (IE) before a trip to the dentist. The 2007…
CE WAIVER EXTENSION: The California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) released an updated Waiver Notice, dated March 30, 2021, to extend the continuing education (CE) requirements for California dental licensees whose active licenses expire between March 31, 2020, and May…
Cal/OSHA requires every California employer to establish, implement and maintain a written Injury and Illness Prevention Program, and to maintain a copy at each workplace. The requirements for establishing, implementing and maintaining an effective written injury and illness prevention program…
In February 2021, the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) announced proposed updates to the Hazard Communication (Hazcom) Standard to align with the seventh revision of the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS). The amendments…
The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), a division of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published an online article entitled “Needlesticks are Preventable” to remind healthcare personnel about the importance of sharps safety in…
In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the California Labor & Workforce Development Agency (LWDA), which oversees the California Department of Industrial Relations, recently launched a new COVID-19 Employer Website and Portal, a one-stop hub for California employers to quickly…
According to a recent news release from the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), a Nevada healthcare provider will pay OCR $75,000 to settle a violation of the federal Health Insurance…
In late 2020, the American Dental Association (ADA) issued the Technical Report Guidance on Method Development and Validation of Cleaning Processes for Dental Instruments to help guide manufacturers of reusable dental instruments on developing and validating reprocessing instructions that follow…
On January 4, the Director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) issued a waiver to permit dentists to administer the COVID-19 vaccine to patients. According to the waiver, dentists in California with required training may independently initiate and…
November 2020 marks the twentieth anniversary of the federal Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act, which mandated the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to add safety provisions to the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. These included: New requirements for the evaluation and…
