Dental Unit Waterline Toolkit from Nebraska ICAP

The CDC released a Health Alert Network (HAN) Statement identifying outbreaks related to dental unit waterlines and the need for increased  awareness in facilities on the maintenance, testing and monitoring. 

You can find the CDC HAN at: https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/2022/han00478.asp

The Nebraska ICAP team has been working on a toolkit for dental providers to help them understand the need and basics of an effective water management plan for their facility. This toolkit includes:

• A document on recognizing dental unit equipment (can be used for new dental professionals or those that are outside of dentistry to help them identify equipment): https://icap.nebraskamed.com/resource/what-is-a-dental-unit/
• A document on the risks of dental unit waterlines and why it is important to create an effective maintenance, testing and monitoring plan: https://icap.nebraskamed.com/resource/dental-unit-waterline-risks/
• A document with the basics on best practice for maintenance, testing and monitoring dental unit waterlines that can be used to develop a policy and protocol for dental water quality: https://icap.nebraskamed.com/resource/dental-unit-waterline-maintenance-testing-and-monitoring-best-practices/

You can also find this toolkit on the Nebraska ICAP Dental Resource Page in the Dental Unit Water Quality section at: https://icap.nebraskamed.com/facilities/dental/facility-resources/