Infection Control and Periodontal Practice Management
What this domain tests
Standard precautions, instrument reprocessing, waterline safety, sharps and post-exposure management, and safe practice systems.
Core rules
- Standard precautions apply to all patients: hand hygiene, PPE, safe sharps handling, and environmental cleaning.
- Spaulding classification: critical items penetrate tissue and need sterilization; semicritical items contact mucosa and need high-level disinfection or sterilization; noncritical items contact intact skin and need low-level disinfection.
- Instrument reprocessing: transport in closed containers, clean with an ultrasonic bath or washer-disinfector, inspect, package, sterilize, and store.
- Autoclave cycles: 134 degrees Celsius for about 3 minutes or 121 degrees Celsius for about 15 minutes, following manufacturer instructions.
- Monitor sterilization with physical, chemical, and biological indicators; biological spore tests at least weekly.
- Dental unit waterlines must be flushed and maintained; output should meet local water-quality standards.
- Needlestick: wash, report, assess source, and initiate post-exposure prophylaxis per protocol.
Worked example
Extraction forceps are contaminated with blood. They are critical items. They are transported in a closed container, cleaned in an ultrasonic bath, rinsed and dried, inspected, pouched with a chemical indicator, autoclaved at 134 degrees Celsius for 3 minutes, and stored. A biological indicator is run weekly.
Traps
- Immersing items in disinfectant instead of sterilizing critical instruments.
- Using an ultrasonic cleaner as a sterilizer.
- Skipping biological monitoring.
- Recapping needles by hand instead of using a safety device or one-handed technique.