Infection control dental

Infection control dental water unit

“Practice A used tap water for pulpotomies without water quality monitoring or bleaching of waterlines at the end of each day, as recommended in the manufacturer guidelines.* All water samples from the seven dental stations had bacterial counts above the American Dental Association recommended ≤500 colony-forming units (CFU)/mL (average = 91,333 CFU/mL); M. abscessus was isolated from all water samples. All water and patient isolates were indistinguishable by PFGE, indicating a common source.” Seems odd all would have the same bacterial signature.

Source

OSAP has very good guidelines from 2018 that are more in depth than the CDC from 2016.

Infection Prevention from the CDC

The CDC short version of the extensive 2016 guidelines. I have read there is an app that helps staff but unable to find.

OSHA

Establishing a Safety and Health Program

Safety and health programs are systems that can substantially reduce the number and severity of workplace injuries and illnesses, while reducing costs to employers. Visit www.osha.gov/safetymanagement for more information.

Compliance Assistance Specialists

OSHA compliance assistance specialists can provide information to employers and workers about OSHA standards, short educational programs on specific hazards or OSHA rights and responsibilities, and information on additional compliance assistance resources. Visit www.osha.gov/complianceassistance/cas or call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742) to contact your local OSHA office.

No-Cost On-Site Safety and Health Consultation Services for Small Business

OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program offers no-cost and confidential advice to small and medium-sized businesses in all states, with priority given to high-hazard worksites. On-Site consultation services are separate from enforcement and do not result in penalties or citations. For more information or to find the local On-Site Consultation office in your state, visit www. osha. gov/consultation, or call 1-800-321-OSHA (6742).

Source

Surface cleaning products

Dental Advisor Caviwipes

PVS impression disinfection process

Model work disinfection process

A standard microwave works to disinfect model work without negative impact.  Disinfection time for a stone model at 600 W takes 3 minutes and sterilization occurs around 5 minutes at 900 W.   Bona GenDent 2017 Anaraki J Dent Res 2013  . In 1985 research first showed microwaves are an effective form of sterilization as long as the object rotates.

Denture disinfection process

You can disinfect a denture when using a 650W standard microwave for 3 minutes. Denture needs to be under water and can not contain any metal! Altieri 2012 JADA microwave denture article

Intra-operative disinfection technque

Hinged instrument sterilization

The CDC does recommend that hinged instruments be open for sterilization (1, 2) but there is no evidence this matters and I think the reason they ask that the instruments be open is to “allow the cleaning solutions to reach the serrations, ratchets and joints.” 1 However, this is for cleaning and not the sterilization process. It does not make sense to me that the sterilization would not work as the cleaning agent is heat and pressure not a liquid. Furthermore evidence of this is found in recommendations that recommend opening and closing the hinged instruments while cleaning them.1 I believe it is a cleaning issue not a sterilization issue but the two got interchanged by someone along the way possibly due to things like cold sterilization where the agent of sterilization is liquid.

Backflow of low evacuation

The CDC knows this occurs but since no evidence of harm they do not seem to be too concerned.