#24 in a series

Practicing proper infection control procedures is the responsibility of every student, staff and faculty member with clinical responsibilities. With the fast-paced nature of the clinical environment, it is sometimes easy to overlook basic infection control policies. To help raise awareness about these issues, we've created this series of infection control reminders and pointers. For questions about infection control policies or more information, contact the School of Dentistry's Director of Health and Safety, Dr. Molly Newlon at: newlonm@dentistry.ucsf.edu.

Fortunately, most blood spills in dentistry are of a small volume. When a blood spill does occur, contain and manage as quickly as possible in order to reduce the spread of contaminated material

• Clean and decontaminated using an intermediate level disinfectant.
  
  
• Remove visible organic material with disposable paper towels and discard the towels in a red colored leak-proof container labeled with a biohazard symbol.
  
  
• Clean and decontaminate the surface area again with an intermediate level disinfectant.
  
  

Best regards,

Charles N. Bertolami, DDS, DMedSc

Dean