Infection Control, Sterilization, and Public Health Safety Standards
Domain 5 tests the infection-control chain from chairside to sterilizer log: what must be sterilized, how you prove the sterilizer works, and what to do when it fails.
The standards that apply
New Jersey dental offices must follow current CDC infection-control guidance and the OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, layered on the Board's office standards. In practice every office needs a written exposure control plan, hepatitis B vaccination offered at no cost, PPE, hand hygiene, safer sharps devices, labeled sharps containers, and post-exposure evaluation and follow-up.
Sterilization logic
- Clean before sterilizing. Debris shields organisms; use an ultrasonic or washer-disinfector, then dry, inspect, and package.
- Every load gets a mechanical indicator and an internal chemical indicator.
- Biological monitoring (spore testing) at least weekly, with a matching control, and results logged.
- Handpieces and prophy angles are heat-sterilized between patients - wiped down, never soaked overnight.
- Waterlines are flushed and treated per manufacturer; sterile water or saline is used for surgical procedures.
- Single-use items - needles, blades, cotton, barriers - are never reprocessed.
Worked example
The weekly spore test comes back positive. Correct response: remove the autoclave from service at once, review loading and packaging, and repeat the test with a control. A second positive means service and re-validation before reuse. Instruments processed since the last negative test are treated as non-sterile and reprocessed or recalled, and the whole sequence is documented.
Traps
Confusing disinfection with sterilization, treating a passed chemical indicator as proof of sterilization, and skipping documentation of spore testing because "the strips looked fine."