In September, the Governor signed Senate Bill 1491 into law, which among other things, makes it unprofessional conduct for a dentists to “use water, or other methods used for irrigation, that are not sterile or that do not contain recognized…
According to the Dental Board of California (DBC) and the Dental Hygiene Committee of California (DHCC), within the last couple of years, some of the continuing education (CE) providers offering the mandatory courses in Infection Control (IC) and the Dental…
We are often asked if staff can wear their scrubs home from the office, or if staff can launder their scrubs at home. The answer to both of these questions is essentially the same: If the scrubs are worn as…
Safe parenteral injection practices are intended to prevent transmission of infectious diseases between one patient and another, or between a patient and dental personnel during preparation and injection of medications. Dental personnel most frequently perform parenteral injections when administering local…
Reusable contaminated protective attire must be laundered in accordance with Cal/OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. Cal/OSHA defines “contaminated laundry” to be “laundry which has been soiled with blood or other potentially infectious materials (OPIM) or may contain sharps”. Employees may NOT…
Nobody expects an emergency or a disaster to happen. Yet, emergencies and disasters can strike anyone, anytime, anywhere. Employers should establish effective safety and health management systems that prepare employees for emergencies to ensure that employers and workers have the…
Beginning October 2, a California healthcare practitioner registered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and authorized to prescribe, order, administer, or furnish a controlled substance must consult the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) 2.0 for a…
Cotton “4x4” gauze in containers should never be saturated with disinfectant and left to soak in the disinfectant. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cotton gauze materials that have been saturated with disinfectant solution for an…
The new Proposition 65 requirements take effect on August 30, 2018, which will require California dental offices with ten or more employees to modify their Proposition 65 warning(s) to patients. Currently under Proposition 65, California dentists with ten or more…
According to U.S. News and World Report, in April 2018, a dental receptionist was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison for stealing over 600 patients’ protected health information (PHI). The woman stole patients’ names, addresses, dates of birth,…
