Gerard Smithers breaks down how to tackle the potential risks.

Health and safety play a crucial role in dental practices. Local governments require those offering dental services to ensure the patient's and staff's health, safety, and welfare, protecting them from the spread of bacteria and illness and other health risks. Aside from providing dental services and treatment, dental professionals should protect everyone in the dental clinic. So, here are some tips for health and safety in the dental workplace.

1. Make sure equipment is up to date

One way to ensure proper health and safety in the dental workplace is to invest in the latest high-quality dental instruments, allowing you to provide the best possible care for your patients. Outdated equipment will make it hard to provide proper dental services and can also risk the patient's health.

In addition, defective dental equipment can cause discomfort to patients and can even cause further damage to their oral health. Dental professionals should take the time to inspect their equipment and replace defective and outdated ones

2. Ensure everything is clean

Cleanliness is incredibly essential in a dental workplace. Whether running a single-doctor clinic or a group practice, you must ensure your business is clean and safe. When cleaning your dental clinic, ensure you follow the industry guidelines, and everyone who handles and disinfects dental tools in the clinic should understand these guidelines and be committed to following them.

Surfaces that get touched regularly must be cleaned and disinfected at all times, from faucets to light switches and drawer handles. These things can harbour nasty bacteria if left unclean.

3. Wear PPE

PPE or Personal Protective Equipment protects staff from bacteria and other pathogens they can pick up from their work environment. In dentistry, you will work with different people, including patients with unknown medical history. Therefore, it is crucial to wear PPE when dealing with patients.

Ensuring that PPE is worn correctly is essential to ensure professionals stay safe from bacteria and harmful pathogens.

4. Emergency protocols

Dental offices should put in place emergency protocols. There are cases where a medical emergency can happen in the workplace, such as accidental or wilful body injury, circulatory and respiratory disturbances and allergic reactions.

Dentists must be familiar with how to prevent and manage common emergencies. In addition, they must provide proper training to staff, and everyone in the workplace should know what to do in an emergency. Conducting mock emergencies can help everyone be more confident in handling emergencies in dental workplaces.

5. Make sure proper training is in place

While some dentists see training as a waste of time and money, this can be farther from the truth. Studies show that the more training the team receives, the more satisfied they will be and better equipped to serve their patients' needs. As a result, you will have an improved reputation, attracting many more patients into your practice.

Nowadays, there are various ways to provide training to staff. The best option is to invest in online training programs that will be more convenient for everyone. The best option is to invest in online health and safety training programs that will be more convenient for everyone.

6. Carry out risk assessments

Risk assessment in the dental workplace is essential for protecting the health and safety of staff and patients. It helps to ascertain what could go wrong and assess whether the workplace has proper protocols to minimise risks.

By law, a "competent individual" should perform the risk assessments. To be competent, the person should have the necessary experience, skills, and knowledge to manage and assess health and safety. The person should have an understanding of the dental practice and a detailed understanding of its potential risks. The bottom line is if something seriously wrong can happen in the dental workplace, the risk assessment can potentially prevent it.

7. Follow OSHA procdures

Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) procedures are vital in identifying workplace hazards. Although there are no specific standards for dentistry, exposure to numerous hazards that apply to dentistry are addressed in the OSHA standards for the general industry.

These include providing staff with proper information and training, establishing a control plan for exposure, wearing PPE and eye protection, using labels and signs to identify hazards, and creating a plan post-exposure.

8. Control of hazardous substances

Dental workplaces use many chemicals and other hazardous substances daily. Some are harmful to a person's health when misused or if they don't take adequate precautions to prevent access by unauthorised individuals. Thus, one way to keep the workplace safe is to control the use of these substances.

In the government’s ‘Using personal protective equipment (PPE) to control risks at work’ guidance, it states that dangerous chemicals and potentially hazardous substances on the premises should be specified. More importantly, the staff should be trained on the safe storage and handling of these harmful substances.

9. Prescribe medications carefully

It's essential for any dental practice to prescribe medication with caution. Providing the wrong prescription can happen in various healthcare settings, including dentistry. Thus, dental staff should take precautions to prevent this.

When prescribing medication, dentists should examine the patient's medical history and inform the patient thoroughly on the proper way to take these medications. The patient should also know what to do in case of adverse reactions.

10. Have fire safety procedures in place

Dental workplaces should take the necessary steps to protect their premises from fire hazards. These include identifying fire hazards, such as flammable materials, heating appliances, and electrical equipment.

All findings during the fire risk assessment must be documented, and the course of action to take to improve precaution. Most importantly, all staff should be aware of the findings. The dental practice should also take steps to review the assessment regularly.

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