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AVON PARK, Fla. – April 12, 2022 – Terra Tippie, South Florida State College (SFSC) Dental Assisting instructor, is among the first group of oral health professionals to earn the Dental Infection Prevention and Control (CDIPC) certification. The CDIPC was developed by the Dental Assisting National Board (DANB) in conjunction with the Organization for Safety, Asepsis, and Prevention (OSAP).
According to DANB, the CDIPC certification is the first clinically focused dental infection control certification in the United States. The exam is rigorous and requires demonstrating not only knowledge of infection control guidelines and standards, but also the analytical and critical-thinking skills to apply them in a variety of scenarios.
“Infection control is one of the most important things we teach our students at SFSC,” Tippie said. “If I were a patient going into a dental office, I would want assurance that the assistant or hygienist that’s working with me knows what they’re doing and that I’m not going to pick anything up in that dental office.”
Tippie said that it’s equally important that students understand why dental professionals follow infection prevention protocols. “When the students go out to practice in the real world and know why they follow infection control protocols, they’ll continue to use them every day. In class and clinicals, it protects our students, their classmates, and our patients. In a dental office, it protects the patients and the dental team. And it helps to protect our entire communities.”
An example of using infection control protocol is when the patient leaves the dental operatory. The patient is dismissed and, in a safe manner, the dental personnel gather the instruments used on that patient. A long process of cleaning those instruments and getting them ready to sterilize follows. Dental assistants must then return to the operatory and disinfect all of the surfaces to get the area ready for the next patient.
Along with her certification in dental assisting, Tippie will maintain her CDIPC by taking continuing education credits. “It means that I’m refreshed every year with our guidelines, and there have been a lot of changes in infection control protocols in the past couple of years.”
COVID-19 has been a major factor in those changes. In dentistry, many procedures produce an aerosol, and COVID-19 is an airborne pathogen. “So, in our situation, if we didn’t follow guidelines, especially for our personal protective equipment, we would be more likely to get something like COVID-19, flu, or the common cold,” Tippie said. “Because we follow guidelines, the dental office or our classrooms are the last places you’re going to pick up an airborne pathogen.”
Tippie indicated that one of the first classes taught in SFSC’s Dental Assisting and Dental Hygiene programs is infection control and it is incorporated into almost every other class that students take within those programs.
“From talking to the people at dental offices where our students have their internships, the students are complimented all the time on knowing infection control and that they’re following the correct procedures,” Tippie said. “I’ve even had some assistants at those dental offices say that they learned some things from our students.”
SFSC currently offers an 11-month Dental Assistant Career Certificate and a two-year Dental Hygiene Associate in Science. Both programs are accredited by the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA). For more information on SFSC Dental Education programs, contact Danielle Ochoa, Health Sciences advisor, at 863-784-7027 or by email at healthsciences@southflorida.edu.
DANB is the national certification board for dental assistants, with more than 37,000 dental assistants currently DANB certified across the country. OSAP is the only nonprofit membership association for oral healthcare professionals that focuses on infection prevention and patient and provider safety.