Summary
1/1/2002
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued this
Health Alert Network (HAN) Health Advisory to emphasize the importance of following existing recommendations for maintaining and monitoring dental waterlines.
Multiple outbreaks of nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) infections have occurred in children who received pulpotomies in pediatric dental clinics where the dental treatment water contained high levels of bacteria. CDC provides guidelines on infection control in dental settings which contain recommendations to treat dental unit waterlines and monitor water quality. Dental providers should be familiar with these recommendations on how to properly maintain and monitor their dental equipment to ensure that dental treatment water is safe for patient care.
Although the recent outbreaks occurred mostly aimed at pediatric dental offices where pulpotomies are performed, Dr. Charles Craft, DHHS Dental Director stated that "it is a reminder that all dental providers should maintain and monitor waterline safety as recommended by the 2003 CDC infection Control Dental Guidelines and other recent updates (FDA/OSAP) as listed in the HAN. The Nebraska Infection Control Assistance Program (ICAP) has addressed this same issue in their most recent newsletters (ICAP Sept 2022 and ICAP Oct 2022)"