Garland

Garland, K. (2017). Brush up on the basics of PPE. The Journal of Professional Excellence Dimensions of Dental Hygiene. 15(10).

This article was a great review on PPE. It explained the why and went more in depth with PPE. The article began by stating just how important PPE is for the protection of both the patient and the clinician, stating that PPE is critical. PPE rules and regulations are put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. This Basics of PPE article focused on the PPE guidelines put in place by OSHA. The article went into a little history on OSHA. OSHA was founded in 1971 in order to protect workers after seeing high numbers of workplace deaths and injuries. The year prior, 1970, close to 14,000 workers were killed on the job. Compared to workplace deaths in 2010, only 4,300. OSHA enforces workplace safety by investigating and fining non-compliant workplaces. There are two standards set by OSHA that a dental office must follow. One is the Bloodborne Pathogen Standard. This standard says that protection from bloodborne pathogens, such as HIV and hepatitis B, is mandatory for all dental health professionals that may be exposed to blood or other potentially infectious material. A part of this standard states that employers are required to provide PPE such as; gloves, masks, protective eyewear, protective garments, lab coats and laundering, HBV vaccine, sharps containers and annual training along with an OSHA Exposure Control plan. Another OSHA standard that dental offices must comply with is the Hazard Communication Standard. This standard mandates the protection from chemical hazards including the use of PPE when around any surface disinfectants, cleaning agents and

dental materials. All chemicals must also have a Safety Data Sheet which includes the information on safe handling, storage, disposal and treatment in the event of an exposure. This article went into great detail about PPE items including; gloves, masks, protective eyewear, protective clothing and the donning and removal of these PPE items. Although some of this article was review, it was still a great read. It is always good to remind yourself about proper PPE and check for any changes. Proper PPE become mundane and is something that could be easily skipped over. Other parts of this article had new information for me. The amount of detail it went into regarding types of gloves and types of masks was something I had never really read in detail about before. This article presented it well and easy to understand. I knew there were different levels of gloves and masks, but never really knew what differentiated the levels. This article explained how these items differ from each other and when it is appropriate to use each item.