Dental Infection Prevention & Control Manager

About the role

The Dental IPC Manager oversees infection prevention and control initiatives across all dental services, supporting continuous surveillance, policy enforcement, education, and quality improvement efforts.

Responsibilities

• Collaborates with dental clinical leaders, practice managers, dental assistants/hygienists, environmental services, and quality teams to ensure regulatory compliance and uphold a culture of safety and prevention in dental care.
• Maintains and updates the Dental IPC Manual, including policies/SOPs for hand hygiene, PPE, instrument reprocessing, dental unit waterlines, environmental cleaning, and safe injection practices.
• Conducts dental-specific Infection Prevention Risk Assessments (IPRAs) for each service area and updates them at least annually or when services change.
• Safeguards the competence of dental personnel involved in infection control activities (including sterilization and reprocessing) through appropriate training and ongoing surveillance of established practices.
• Supports standardization of dental infection control practices across all sites, including instrument flow, packaging, sterilization, storage, and documentation, in collaboration with Central Sterilization.
• Maintains and evaluates biological indicator results, sterilizer performance, and dental unit waterline quality; initiates corrective actions for any failures or breaches.
• Identifies, investigates, and documents suspected dental-associated infections, sterilization failures, or IPC breaches; leads or supports root-cause analyses and remediation plans.
• Provides infection prevention orientation and ongoing in-service education for dental providers, hygienists, assistants, and support staff as needed.
• Serves as a resource for dental teams and leaders on all IPC-related questions, including device IFUs, product selection, and regulatory requirements.
• Collaborates with Employee Health on dental staff exposures and communicable disease issues and with IPC/Quality on organizational surveillance and reporting.
• Prepares and maintains documentation needed for internal audits, accreditation, and regulatory surveys related to dental infection control.
• Participates in and/or leads committees related to dental infection control, sterilization, and patient safety as directed.
• Supports IP team with additional assignments as needed.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree (higher degree accepted) in Dental Hygiene - Preferred (or)Bachelor's Degree (higher degree accepted) in Nursing, Public Health or Microbiology - Required (or)High School Diploma or equivalent (higher degree accepted) with completion of a Registered Dental Assistant Program or equivalent RDA credential & Dental Infection Prevention Certificate - Required
• 3 years of dental clinical practice experience - Required
• Registered Dental Hygienist License - Required upon hire (or)Registered Dental Assistant License - Required upon hire (and)Certified in Infection Control (CIC) - Required within 6 months of hire