The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated May 5th, 2018 as World Hand Hygiene Day. Both WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offer resources for healthcare providers to practice effective hand hygiene to prevent and control…
In March 2018, the New Hampshire Board of Dental Examiners suspended a dentist from practicing dentistry for professional misconduct for “failure to follow the current guidelines of the American Dental Association” for dental infection control. According to an investigation by…
Beginning in October 2014, the New Jersey Department of Health investigated and confirmed fifteen patient transmissions of bacterial endocarditis after oral surgery treatment at the same oral surgery practice. During the investigation, breaches of recommended infection control standards were identified…
Sterilization Monitoring Regular sterilizer monitoring in a dental office, when properly implemented, is an important part of infection control verification, and includes a combination of process parameters to evaluate the sterilizing conditions and the sterilizer’s effectiveness. Biological monitoring is the…
In December 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule banning 24 ingredients found in over-the-counter (OTC) antispetics used for hand hygiene in the healthcare industry. The final rule becomes effective on December 20, 2018. According…
On September 19, 2017, Governor Brown in California signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1277 into law, which requires the Dental Board of California (DBC) to amend the regulations on the minimum standards for infection control to require water or other methods…
The Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends, that all personal protective equipment (PPE), including gowns, lab coats, gloves, masks, and protective eyewear or face shield, to be worn…
Under universal/standard precautions, OSHA deems that all teeth must be assumed to be potentially infectious. As such, they must be handled safely, to prevent the potential for occupational transmission of disease to employees who come into contact with them. However,…
All surface disinfectants, i.e. antimicrobials, sold in the United States are regulated under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) because antimicrobials are in fact pesticides. Under FIFRA, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for regulating,…
Documented Infection Transmission from DUWLs In April 2016, twenty pediatric dental patients had to be hospitalized due to infection transmission of Mycobacterium abscessus from contaminated dental unit water used during pulpotomies. And from March-August 2016, 58 pediatric patients became infected…
