In-Practice Infection Control Training for Dental Teams

Without the correct infection control policy, dental practices can become hubs for illness.

All practices must follow the HTM 01-05 guidelines to prevent the transmission of infection and protect patients and the dental team. But there can be uncertainty: how do you know you are doing the right thing? And are you using your products safely?

This is where in-practice training can get the whole dental team quickly up to speed on infection control.

Areas of infection control

Two leading sources of infective organisms in the dental practice are blood and saliva. The containment and removal of these is spread across many activities:

Hand hygiene
Wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Instrument sterilisation
Surface decontamination
Waste management
Dental unit waterline decontamination

There is also the environmental impact to consider beyond the dental practice. For instance, where is your water going and is it free from harmful waste?

Common mistakes must be identified and avoided. For example, dental practitioners should wash their hands before and after treating each patient, and any time they put gloves on or take them off – not just if a glove has torn or they have touched a contaminated instrument.

Harmful chemicals may also be accidentally poured down a sink. Whatever the mistake, there is a risk of infection, damage and, in extreme cases, litigation. This can be prevented with in-practice training, which highlights correct infection control protocols to reduce the risk of the team making mistakes.

How in-practice training makes a difference

Whilst reading the HTM 01-05 guidelines should be compulsory for all dental practitioners, in-person education and training can improve retention. A dynamic learning environment that involves the whole dental team has many benefits:

Personalised sessions – instructors can tailor their presentations to the needs and learning styles of the attendees
Hands-on learning – the addition of case studies and real-world examples enhances the importance of the guidelines
Building soft skills – a designated training session nurtures essential workplace skills like communication and teamwork and offers a refreshing change to the daily workflow
CPD accreditation – each member of the dental team can be awarded with verifiable CPD to meet their annual targets
Immediate feedback – whether through Q&As, feedback forms or general conversation, in-practice training promotes real-time discussion that enhances the experience for current attendees, the instructors and future attendees

All dental practices have a duty to protect their patients and staff from infection. This is only possible with two things: the most up-to-date knowledge and regulations, and a dental team that are all trained in infection control.

How Dentilearn can help

In addition to online CPD, Dentisan offers Dentilearn CPD In-Practice. This programme enables the whole dental team to access verifiable CPD training in dental decontamination from the comfort and convenience of your own practice.

The training is presented by Dentisan’s infection control experts in 1 or 2-hour sessions and includes real life examples and case studies that participants can easily relate to.

Topics covered in the comprehensive 2-hour session include documentation and records, microbiology, the risks associated with infection control and much, much more.

Click here for more information on Dentilearn, or book your in-practice CPD by emailing your request to the expert in your area: