New infection control guidelines could be introduced in America
In light of the recent sterilisation blunder in St Louis, the American Dental Association has announced that there may be new regulations brought in to promote optimum levels of infection control.
The ADA released a press release saying that the recent incident at the VA Medical Center in St Louis would cause the spotlight to be focused on infection control procedures and changes could be introduced to try and prevent similar incidents occurring in the future. Currently, all dentists, dental professionals and laboratory technicians are encouraged to comply with regulations described in the 2003 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Control in Dental Health Care Settings. The guidelines are designed to protect both staff and patients from infectious diseases and promote good professional practice.
Since the incident in St Louis, where more than 1,800 veterans were put in danger after a blunder in the sterilisation process, everybody is talking about sterilisation and infection control and officials say it is of paramount importance that another incident like this does not occur in the future. Currently, the veterans affected by the incident are attending blood tests to determine whether or not they have contracted an infectious disease; results are expected to start coming in within the next 7-14 days.
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