One of the current best management practices for managing dental amalgam in wastewater, recommended universally among dental organizations, is the prohibition on the use of dental vacuum line cleaners that promote the release of mercury from the vacuum lines. Specifically,…
On August 28, 2016, the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) adopted amendments to Proposition 65 warning regulations that will require dental offices to modify their Proposition 65 warning(s) to patients. Proposition 65, also known…
Effective April 1, 2017 as Section 3342 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations, Cal/OSHA’s Violence Prevention in Health Care regulation requires specified health care facilities to establish workplace violence prevention plans to protect health care personnel from…
As of March 1, 2017, all single-user restrooms in any business establishment, place of public accommodation, or state or local government agency must be identified as “all-gender” toilet facilities. Known as the Equal Restroom Access Act, Assembly Bill 1732 was…
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,…
On February 1, 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) civil penalty of $3.2 million against Children’s Medical Center of Dallas based on its breach of…
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…
Last month, the California Department of Justice and the California Department of Consumer Affairs issued a joint notification to all affected parties that the CURES 1.0 system will no longer be available after Saturday, March 4, 2017. The old system…
According to the American Dental Association (ADA), the White House’s memorandum dated January 20, 2017, to freeze all or new pending regulations includes the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) final rule, which would require dental offices to install amalgam separators. The…
In October, 2016, the ADA adopted a new ADA Statement on the Use of Opioids in the Treatment of Dental Pain, which provides recommendations for dentists on prescribing opioids to patients. In addition to specific practice recommendations, the statement urges…
