Infection prevention is more important than ever before, for patient safety and for patients to maintain confidence in their dental practice. Although instruments may have been processed in the sterilizer, maintaining the sterility of dental instruments after the packages are removed from the sterilizer is a critical step in patient safety protocols. This process begins with the selection of packaging materials that are optimal for the instrument management system, utilization of process indicators and integrators, placement in the sterilizer, appropriate drying, and storage of instrument packages. This CE webinar will be based on the CDC Guidelines for Dental Health Care Settings, as well as the CDC Guidelines for Sterilization and Disinfection in Health Care Settings.

Upon completion of this CEwebinar, participants will be able to:
• Describe types of instrument packaging materials and their use in sterilization procedures
• Identify appropriate loading of sterilizers to ensure effectiveness
• Describe types of sterilization indicators and integrators and their uses
• Identify packaging errors that may compromise the sterility of instruments during storage   ( disclaimer, bio and commercial disclosure )