Infection Control Strategies in the Dental Clinic
A. Infection control
1. What is infection control?
2. Legislative frameworks
3. Duty of care
4. Patient history and risk assessment
5. Infected dental practitioners
B. Standard precautions of infection control
1. Hand hygiene
2. Personal protective equipment
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Gloves
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Masks
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Eye protection
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Protective clothing
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Footwear
3. Respiratory Hygiene/ Cough etiquette
4. Aseptic technique (e.g Surgical procedures, safe injection practices)
5. Management of clinical waste & safe Disposal of sharps
6. Environmental Cleaning​
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C. Infection control strategies within the contaminated zone
1. Clean and contaminated zones
2. Waterlines and water quality
3. Single-use items
4. Matrix bands
5. Burs
6. Implant drills
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D. Instrument reprocessing
1. Categories of instruments: infection risk relative to instrument use
2. Instrument reprocessing area and workflow
3. Transfer of contaminated instruments and sharps
4. Cleaning
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Manual cleaning
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Mechanical cleaning
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Drying instruments
5. Packaging prior to steam sterilization
6. Batch Control Identification (BCI)
7. Steam sterilization
8. Maintenance and testing
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Validation of the sterilization process
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Monitoring of cycles
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Operating the steam sterilizer
9. Steam sterilizer performance tests
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Loading
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Drying
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Checking the completed load
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Retention of hard copy printouts from steam sterilizers
10. Steam sterilizer monitoring tests
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Chemical indicators
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Storage of chemical indicators
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Biological indicators
11. Low Temprature sterilization technologies​
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Ethylene oxide (EtO), Hydrogen Peroxide gas plasma & chemical sterilent
12. Other Sterilization Methods
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Ionizing radiation, dry-heat, microwaves & Ozone
13. Disinfection
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Thermal disinfection using washer-disinfectants
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Chemical disinfection using instrument disinfectants – high level
14. Storage of processed instruments
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User checks to be made before using instruments
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Unwrapped semi-critical and non-critical items
E. Documentation and practice protocols for infection control
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Maintaining sterilization records
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Infection control for dental practitioners and clinical support staff
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Immunization
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Immunization records
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Education
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Exposure incident protocol
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Infection control manual and other practice management issues
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Infection control manual
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F. Special areas and their particular dental infection control requirements
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Design of Premises
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Dental Radiology and photography
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Specialized intraoral equipment and devices
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Curing light
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Air abrasion, electrosurgery units piezosurgery equipment and tips and lasers
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Implants and augmentation materials
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Impressions
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Dental laboratory and dental prosthetics
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Handpiece management
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Specimens
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Endodontic irrigants
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Gutta percha points
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Hand operated endodontic files
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Nickel-titanium (NiTi) endodontic files
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Cleaning rotary endodontic files
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Relative analgesia equipment
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Nursing home visits
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Management of occupational exposure
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Spill Management
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G. Infectious diseases, allergies and transmission-based ​
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Prion diseases including Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD)
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Airborne transmitted disease
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Influenza and other influenza like illnesses
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Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
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Allergies/sensitivity to Chlorhexidine
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Blood-borne viruses and the infected dental practitioner
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Exposure prevention methods and exposure prone techniques
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Objectives:
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Provides basic infection prevention principles and recommendations for dental health care settings.
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Understanding Standard Precautions as the foundation for preventing transmission of infectious agents during patient care in all dental health care settings.
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Understanding special areas in dental practices and their particular infection control requirements.
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Occupational exposure (including sharp injury) prevention & management.
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Ability to identify and implement transmission-based precaution (airborne, droplet & contact).
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AT THE END OF THE COURSE, THE PARTICIPANTS WILL BE ABLE TO:
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Apply current scientifically accepted infection control principles as appropriate for the specific work environment
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Each participant can bring his Assistant to the course, special reduced fees for Nurses will be applied.
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Course Duration (Days): 2 Days
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Language: English
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Total Points: 20 CE
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16 CE (2 days per 8 hours)
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1 CE (Hands on training)
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1 CE (Case Discussions)
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2 CE (Review and Session Exam)
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