Infection control

Infection control and prevention is critical in providing safe, high-quality health care for patients and a safe working environment for staff.

We expect dental practitioners to maintain and enhance public health and safety. You must know how to use prevention and control systems to prevent or minimise the spread of infection. This is a legal obligation. 

Practices need to align with the Dental Board of Australia’s policies, codes and guidelinesopen_in_new and comply with federal and NSW legal requirementsopen_in_new on infection prevention and control.

The Council inspects dental practice settings to assess and audit infection control compliance. Practice settings include private or corporate dental and public settings such as hospitals. We take breaches of infection control very seriously as part of our legal obligation to protect the health and safety of the NSW community. 

We can conduct inspections or practice audits to investigate a complaint, confirm dental practitioners are complying with standards, and check they are meeting any restrictions on their registration.

Under the law, the Council can authorise dental practitioners to act on our behalf to carry out inspections. These practitioners are considered ‘authorised persons’. They can enter a practice setting to conduct an inspection and confirm compliance with approved standards, codes and obligations on infection prevention and control. We can conduct inspections even if we haven’t received a complaint.  

We generally give practitioners 48 hours’ notice before an inspection takes place, but we can visit unannounced at any time if we think public safety is at risk.

Practitioners should be available for the inspection and assist the Council’s authorised person as they carry out their work. This can include: 

• entering and inspecting the premises
• requesting records
• inspecting and copying extracts or notes from records and/or seizing records
• examining and inspecting any apparatus or equipment
• taking photographs, filming video footage with or without audio, or recording the inspection
• requiring any person on the premises to answer questions or provide information.

Inspections can be done while patients are at the practice – appointments should not be cancelled. We make sure staff and patients aren’t inconvenienced on the day.

After the inspection or audit, the authorised persons write a report for the Council to consider. We then contact the practitioner to provide feedback, outline any steps they need to take, and consider whether we need to take any further action. 

We review our approach to inspections annually.