Infection Control, Sanitation, and Emergency Practice Provisions
This domain tests the everyday systems that keep a dental office from becoming a transmission event, plus the emergency readiness the Board expects.
Standard precautions and sterilization
- Treat all patients as potentially infectious: gloves, masks, eye protection, gowns as indicated, and hand hygiene between patients.
- Critical items (instruments, handpieces) are cleaned and sterilized between patients; semicritical items require at least high-level disinfection; surfaces get barriers or an EPA-registered hospital disinfectant.
- Autoclave monitoring is layered: a chemical indicator in every load, a biological spore test on the schedule the rule sets (at least weekly in most practices), and a written log. A failed spore test means removing the unit from service, following recall procedures, and retesting.
- Single-use items are never reprocessed; sharps go into rigid containers; dental unit waterlines are maintained per manufacturer and CDC guidance.
Emergency provisions
- Current BLS/CPR for the clinical team, an emergency kit, oxygen, suction, and a written emergency plan with periodic drills.
- Offices providing sedation add airway and monitoring equipment scaled to the permit tier.
Worked example
A spore test returns positive on Friday. The correct response is not to run another load and hope. The autoclave is taken out of service, instruments from the affected loads are treated as non-sterile and reprocessed, the biological test is repeated, and the event and corrective action are documented.
Traps that cost marks
- Substituting cold chemical solutions for true sterilization of critical items.
- Monitoring with chemical indicators only and never running biological tests.
- Treating infection control as purely an OSHA matter; Board rules make it a licensure issue too.