Infection control tips for patients
The Dental Board of Australia and Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) have created ‘Tips for dental patients’ to help members of the public make sure they are getting safe care from their dental practitioner.
You can help to make sure you are getting safe care from your dental practitioner by asking the following questions:
- Is your dental practitioner registered?
- You can check the national register of dental practitioners and make sure your dental practitioner is registered and meets national standards.
- Does the surgery look clean and tidy?
- Is your dental practitioner wearing appropriate clothing, gloves, a mask and glasses?
- Does your dental practitioner have a sink in their surgery where they can wash their hands?
- Does your dental practitioner work with an assistant?
- Are the instruments used on you clean or new and disposable?
- You can ask your dental practitioner if their instruments are sterilised or if they have an autoclave (which is a machine used to sterilise instruments).
Ask your dental practitioner any questions you have about infection control or what they are doing.
Prepare yourself for the types of infection control measures you might see when visiting a dental practitioner by watching the following video:
