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Guides · Dental offices in the United States

Plain-language guides for dental sterilizer records

Guides on what to test, what to write down, how long to keep it, and what to do when a spore test fails. Each one starts with the answer, then shows where it comes from.

Testing

Records

  • What must a dental sterilizer log entry contain?

    A sterilizer log entry records what went through the machine, in which cycle, when, by whom, and what the monitors showed.

  • Checking time, temperature and pressure on every load

    For every load, check the mechanical readings (e.g., time, temperature and pressure) and the chemical indicators, and note what you saw in your sterilization records (CDC, 2003 dental infection-control guidelines; CDC, Summary of Infection Prevention Practices in Dental Settings, 2016).

  • How long must a dental office keep sterilization records?

    There is no single federal number: the CDC tells dental offices to keep sterilization records — mechanical, chemical and biological — long enough to comply with state and local regulations (CDC, 2003 dental infection-control guidelines).

  • Paper or electronic sterilization logs: what the rules say

    Yes: you can keep your sterilizer logs on a screen, because none of the sources behind this page — the CDC texts, OSHA’s bloodborne pathogens standard, or the dental rules of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Florida and Georgia — requires paper or sets rules for electronic signatures (US sterilizer rule pack, item K9).

  • Who can ask to see your sterilization records

    Several bodies can ask for records. OSHA can require the office's bloodborne-pathogen records on request (OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard), and each state writes its own way in: New York's rule is a written request you must answer within 30 days (New York rule 29.1(b)(13)), and Georgia's board opens investigations on its own motion or on a written complaint (Georgia board of dentistry rule 150-4-.01).

  • How to label sterilized instrument packs in a dental office

    Write four things on every sterilized pack: the sterilizer used, the cycle or load number, the date of sterilization, and, if one applies, the expiration date (CDC, Summary of Infection Prevention Practices in Dental Settings, 2016).

  • OSHA bloodborne pathogens training records for dental offices

    Train every employee with occupational exposure at the time of initial assignment to tasks where that exposure may take place, and at least annually thereafter (OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030).

  • CDC’s sterilization checklist items and the records that prove them

    CDC’s infection prevention checklist for dental settings lists five sterilization items in section II.6 — II.6.G, II.6.H, II.6.J, II.6.K and II.6.N — and this page quotes all five word for word (CDC, infection prevention checklist for dental settings).

  • Which CDC sterilization guidance applies to a dental office?

    The daily sterilization work in a dental office follows CDC’s dental texts — the 2003 dental infection-control guidelines and their 2016 summary — and CDC’s current dental page also points to the 2008 disinfection and sterilization guideline (CDC, sterilization monitoring page for dental settings, 2024).

  • How often dental staff need bloodborne pathogens training

    Train staff at the time of initial assignment to tasks where occupational exposure may take place, and at least annually thereafter, with the year’s session inside one year of the previous training (OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030).

  • Infection control training and CE requirements by state

    Every dental office in the country trains each employee with occupational exposure at the time of initial assignment to tasks where that exposure may take place, and at least annually thereafter, with each year’s training within one year of the previous one (OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030).

  • New York's mandated infection control training for dentists

    Every dentist must complete course work or training regarding infection control and barrier precautions — appropriate to their practice and approved by the department — on or before July 1, 1994, and every four years after that (NYSED infection control training page; New York Education Law §6505-b).

  • Sharps injury logs in dental offices

    A dental office needs a sharps injury log only when the government has asked it to keep OSHA injury and illness records, because the log applies to employers required to maintain a log of occupational injuries and illnesses under 29 CFR part 1904 (OSHA bloodborne pathogens standard, 29 CFR 1910.1030).

When something fails

  • What to do when a dental sterilizer fails a spore test

    When a spore test comes back positive, take the sterilizer out of service and repeat the test immediately, on the same cycle that produced the failure (CDC, 2003 dental infection-control guidelines).

  • When a chemical indicator or sterilizer reading fails

    When a mechanical reading or a chemical indicator indicates inadequate processing, the instrument packs from that load are not used until they are reprocessed (CDC, 2003 dental infection-control guidelines; CDC, Infection Prevention Checklist for Dental Settings).

  • Requalifying a sterilizer after a failure, repair, move or install

    Requalifying a sterilizer means running a fresh test series before it goes back to work: three consecutive spore tests (biological indicators) for each cycle type you use, plus three Bowie-Dick tests on a pre-vacuum steam sterilizer (CDC, 2008 guideline for disinfection and sterilization, sterilizing practices).

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