9 Things You Need to Know about Maintaining and Monitoring Dental Unit Waterlines
Eight Common HIPAA Violations in Dental Practices
HIPAA compliance has become normalized in dental practices across the country. In some instances, it is almost taken for granted after 20 years since the first Privacy Rules were implemented. Dental practices are, however, being audited by HIPAA’s parent agency – the Dept. of Health and Human Services (DHHS), and complaints are filed by patients […]
Do Dental Teams Need to be Concerned About COVID Again?
The answer to this question is yes – but not to the level of concern during the pandemic. The CDC, World Health Organization (WHO), and the news media are reporting increases in hospitalizations of patients with COVID-19, and two fast-spreading variants of the Omicron COVID variant. In addition, we are now entering into the […]
Infection Prevention and Control in the News
Now that COVID-19 isn’t dominating the infection control news stories (although it is still present), we turn our attention to some additional news regarding infectious disease transmissions that may affect us in dentistry. Some of the information is good news and of course, some is not so good. RSV Recently the Food and Drug Administration […]
How Good Is the Air Quality in Your Office?
During the COVID-19 pandemic, both OSHA and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended that dental treatment rooms have increased ventilation and air purification to remove potentially infectious aerosols. In its updated guidance for COVID-19 from (May 8) and for Ventilation in Buildings (May 11, 2003); the CDC makes specific recommendations about the use […]
How Do I Know if A Surface Disinfectant is Appropriate for my Practice?
Selecting appropriate surface disinfectants for equipment and other surfaces in the dental treatment room can be confusing. Practices frequently receive marketing information about new products, existing products with new features, as well as product recommendations for the use of “natural” disinfectants from internet sources. This article will examine the agencies that determine the efficacy […]
Mary Govoni, MBA, RDH, CDA, on Current Infectious Disease Issues in Dentistry and Why We Need to Stay Alert
As we collectively let out a sigh of relief that the COVID-19 pandemic is nearing it’s end in May, it may be tempting to think about infection prevention and control as returning to the pre-pandemic practices and levels of awareness about infectious disease outbreaks. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that […]
What is the Current State of Infection Prevention and Control for Dentistry?
Mary Govoni, CDA, RDH, MBA, Mary Govoni & Associates So much has happened around current state of infection prevention and other areas of health care over the course of the last 3 years. At times the change has been dizzying, confusing and frustrating. Many dental team members are expressing their sentiments about COVID-19 […]
The Compliance Divas Podcast: Experts Opinions on Infection Prevention and Control in January 2023
Staying informed and up-to-date on the latest news and developments in the dental industry is essential for us. One way to do this is by listening to the Compliance Divas podcasts that focus on important topics such as dental infection prevention and control. These podcasts provide valuable information and insights on how to maintain a […]
Update on COVID-19 and Dentistry
Dental practices have faced numerous challenges this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and those challenges continue. As the number of cases of COVID-19 continues to increase, dental practices are facing additional hardships. Supplies of PPE, especially respirators, continue to be difficult to find. Dentistry now faces shortages of disinfectant wipes and gloves. And […]
Grassroots Entrepreneurship is the Only Way Forward POST-COVID
Many are concerned with what’s next? When do we get back to normal? What is the new normal? While all of these things are important, I truly believe that the new normal is the renaissance of entrepreneurship in the dental space. Every person who is in the operatory or the front desk has an IDEA! […]
Live Events Recap for the Week of July 27
Dear ZenFamily, Happy Monday and happy August to all! As we jump into another busy week, we’d like to share a recap of live events and webinars for last week (the week of July 27) as well as some exciting live events that we have planned for the week of August 3. So here goes! […]
Live Events Recap for the Week of June 1
Dear ZenFamily, Happy Monday to all! We hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend. As we jump into another busy week, we’d like to share a recap of live events and webinars for the last week (the week of June 1) as well as some exciting live events that we have planned for the […]
Live Events Recap for the Week of May 11
Dear ZenFamily, Hope everyone is staying safe and having a productive week so far! Last week here at Zen we had a webinar on Friday 5/15 on “Understanding N95/KN95 Masks and 3 Ply Surgical Masks, Compliance For Dental Practices Including research/diagrams/test/in office test log forms”. Mary Govoni joined Tiger to answer questions on what products […]
Live Events Recap for the Week of May 4
Dear ZenFamily, Happy Monday to all! I hope everyone had a great weekend and ready to start this week with full energy and potential! Last week here at Zen we had two live webinars with four phenomenal guests! On Monday, 5/4, Tiger was joined by Dr. Justin Moody, the owner of West Horizon Dental Group […]
Live Events Recap for the Week of April 20
Dear ZenFamily, Thank you to each and every one of you for participating in our live events and webinars this past week! We’ve gotten so many great questions in regards to our webinar on Monday 4/20 with Tim Twigg and on Wednesday 4/22 with Mary Govoni. Both of these webinars are eligible for 1 CE […]
Article Semaine 6 from Emilie Lacombe in France
Today, it’s the beginning of our sixth weeks of quarantine: time to make a point. On the last Tuesday, our President, M. Macron announced the extension of the shelter in place order for 30 days. The end of the quarantine will be May 11th. If statistics look good, schools and businesses will open on this […]
[Repost] What the $2 trillion stimulus package means for dentists (from Becker’s Healthcare)
This is a repost from Becker’s Healthcare, written by Gabrielle Masson on March 30, 2020. President Donald Trump passed a $2 trillion emergency spending bill March 27 to combat the economic effect of COVID-19. Below are provisions of the legislation relevant to dentists, as explained by Chad Gehani, DDS, American Dental Association president. Provisions the ADA believes are most […]
Water Lines: Basic information to stay in compliance
Questions about testing dental waterlines are all over social and print media. Terms like DUWLs, CFUs, and LPSs are in the literature but what does that alphabet soup mean and what is a dental office supposed to do about it? The good news is, is it isn’t as hard at pronouncing words like Pseudomonas Aeruginosa […]
10 things your office should know about Infection Control with Julie Varney (15 min Interview)
10 Things Every Assistant Should know about Infection Control: PPEs – 4 items – mask; gloves; goggles; gown Utility Gloves Transport bins – to transport our items from the operatory to the sterilization area in a closed puncture proof, leak-proof container. With a biohazard sticker. Disinfectants – 2 step or 1 step. One step or […]