Update on Infection Control Precautions and the California Dental Practice Act

This course will be a live webinar offered through Zoom, which enables you to participate in interactive, distance learning through your own computer or tablet. This live interactive webinar will count towards in-person instructional hours per the Dental Board of California. However, this may vary for license renewal in other states. It is the responsibility of each participant to verify the requirements of his/her state licensing board(s).

Update on Dental Infection Control Precautions

John Molinari, PhD

Dentistry has been tasked with several infection control challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. These include expanding the application of standard and transmission-based precautions from what had been used before 2020. Governmental agencies like the CDC and CAL/OSHA published recommendations to protect healthcare professionals from airborne microbial diseases. The impact of long-standing precautions and the most recent science-based infection control updates will be presented as they relate to dental practice.

During this live webinar, topics for discussion include hand hygiene, vaccine updates, sharps safety, personal protective equipment (PPE), instrument sterilization, environmental surface disinfection, and dental water asepsis. Protection of dental healthcare professionals and patients against airborne microbial disease will also be considered in light of updated CDC, OSHA, NIOSH, and EPA recommendations. A primary goal of this course is to help dental professionals increase their understanding of the “why” and the “what” of infection control procedures.

You Will Learn:

• To discuss the application of standard and transmission precautions as foundations of infection prevention
• To interpret the most recent infection control updates from the CDC and CAL/OSHA
• To recognize the importance of effective hand hygiene procedures
• To describe current healthcare worker vaccination recommendations
• To explain compliance with environmental surface asepsis procedures
• To comprehend practical strategies to minimize DUWL contamination

California Dental Practice Act

Ali Oromchian, JD, LLM

The California Dental Practice Act is the chapter of the California Business & Professions Code that contains the basic body of laws governing dentistry (Business & Professions Code 1600). California law requires that every dental professional must have a grasp of that basic body of the law, together with the related portions of the California Code of Regulations and selected other California statutes. This webinar has been designed to summarize the Dental Practice Act and related laws throughout the current year.

You Will Learn:

• To summarize the California Dental Practice Act
• To describe the legal role and responsibilities of dentists and dental auxiliaries
• To distinguish between direct and indirect supervision and define which auxiliary responsibilities are in each category
• To interpret the various laws regarding licenses in the dental profession

Who Should Attend:

The Dental Board of California requires that all dentists, registered dental hygienists and registered dental assistants take two units each of dental law and infection control every two years to renew their licenses.