Infection Control in Dental Practice: The 2026 HTM 01-05 & CQC Checklist

Infection control in a UK dental practice rests on three pillars: the right personal protective equipment (PPE) worn at the right moment, consistent hand hygiene supported by single-use paper, and a per-patient barrier system built on single-use dental consumables. Get those three rights and you satisfy the bulk of what HTM 01-05, the Standard Infection Control Precautions (SICPs) and the CQC expect to see. This guide covers each pillar and ends with a printable checklist and stock-planning table.

What HTM 01-05, SICPs and the CQC require in 2026

Three frameworks shape infection prevention and control in English dental practices, each with a distinct job.

HTM 01-05: essential quality requirements vs best practice

HTM 01-05 (Decontamination in primary care dental practices) is the Department of Health’s memorandum for England. It sets out two tiers: essential quality requirements that every practice must meet and best practice to work towards. The key points for daily practice are:

• Instruments are cleaned, disinfected and sterilised in a defined dirty-to-clean workflow.
• Wrapped, sterilised instruments in sterilisation pouches can be stored for up to one year; unwrapped instruments in the clinical area for one day or one week in a non-clinical area.
• Anything labelled single use must be discarded after use on a single patient. Reprocessing a single-use item is a breach of the guidance and of MHRA rules.
• Written policies, training records and equipment test logs must be kept.

Standard Infection Control Precautions: the ten elements

The Standard Infection Control Precautions in the NHS England National Infection Prevention and Control Manual apply to every patient, every time, regardless of known infection status. The ten elements are patient placement and risk assessment, hand hygiene, respiratory and cough hygiene, PPE, safe management of care equipment, safe management of the care environment, safe management of linen, safe management of blood and body-fluid spillages, safe disposal of waste including sharps, and prevention of occupational exposure. Most of these are delivered through consumables, not equipment.

What CQC inspectors look for

The CQC assesses dental providers under Regulation 12 (Safe care and treatment) and the Health and Social Care Act Code of Practice on infection prevention. During a CQC dental inspection, you should be prepared to show the named infection control lead, an annual audit, HTM 01-05 policies, training records, waste contracts, autoclave logs, and evidence that PPE and single-use items are stocked and used correctly. The paper trail matters as much as the practice.

Aerosol-generating procedures are more demanding.

Aerosol-generating procedures (AGPs): high-speed handpieces, ultrasonic scaling, and air polishing throw fine droplets well beyond the mouth. They are why dental PPE is more demanding than in general medicine and why cross-contamination control must cover surfaces, not just hands and instruments.

Hand hygiene: the WHO 5 Moments in a dental surgery

Hand hygiene is the single most effective infection control measure and the one most often skipped when the surgery is running late. The WHO 5 moments of hand hygiene translate neatly into a dental setting:

1. Before touching a patient before seating, before the initial examination.
2. Before a clean or aseptic procedure, before any invasive treatment, before handling sterile instruments.
3. After body-fluid exposure risk after removing gloves following any procedure involving saliva or blood.
4. After touching a patient at the end of the appointment.
5. After touching patient surroundings after wiping the chair, bracket table or light handles.

Hand hygiene steps: wash or alcohol rub?

The hand hygiene steps depend on the situation. Use soap and water when hands are visibly soiled, after exposure to body fluids, and at the start and end of a session. Alcohol-based hand rub is acceptable between routine contacts when hands are visibly clean. Either way: no jewellery, short nails, and bare below the elbows.

Why single-use paper towels beat air dryers and cloth

Damp hands transfer far more microorganisms than dry ones, and hospital studies show jet-air and warm-air dryers disperse bacteria into the surrounding air. Cloth towels are shared reservoirs. UK IPC guidance therefore specifies single-use paper hand towels in clinical hand-wash areas. This is where hygiene paper stops being a janitorial line item and becomes a compliance product.

Choosing hand towels, dispensers and blue rolls for a surgery

When you are specifying paper towels for a dental practice, three details matter:

• Fold type. C-fold hand towels are economical and fit most cabinets, but users often pull two at a time. Z-fold hand towels (interfold) dispense one sheet at a time, so hands only touch the towel they take, making them the better choice for clinical wash stations.
• Ply. 2-ply absorbs faster and reduces the number of towels used per wash, which usually offsets the higher unit price.
• Dispensers. A wall-mounted hand towel dispenser keeps towels off the worktop and away from splash zones. Choose a lockable, wipe-clean model that can be included in the surface-cleaning schedule.

Blue roll is the workhorse for everything else: drying instruments after manual cleaning, protecting worktops, wiping spills, and lining trays. A Centrefeed blue roll in a wall dispenser is easier to control and keeps the paper out of contaminated areas.

Couch roll and surface paper: per-patient changeover

A couch roll is often overlooked in dentistry because there is no couch but it earns its place on the chair headrest, the bracket table and in rooms used for sedation or implant surgery. Whatever surface paper you use, change it between every patient.

PPE in dentistry: what to wear, when, and how to don and doff

Personal protective equipment protects team and patient, and the combination depends on the procedure: gloves, a fluid-resistant mask and eye protection for routine work; a higher-grade mask or respirator, visor and apron or gown for AGPs and surgery.

Gloves: nitrile vs latex vs vinyl

All medical examination gloves sold in the UK should meet BS EN 455, but the material makes a real difference in practice.

• Nitrile gloves are the default in most UK surgeries: latex-free, chemical- and puncture-resistant, and available powder-free with textured fingertips. For a busy practice, powder-free nitrile gloves are the safest all-round choice.
• Latex gloves still offer the best tactile sensitivity, but latex allergy risk for staff and patients has pushed many practices to latex-free.
• Vinyl gloves are the cheapest but loosest-fitting and least durable for fine cleaning and waste handling, not for patient treatment.

Whatever the material, disposable gloves are one pair per patient, changed if torn, and never washed. For oral surgery and implants, sterile surgical gloves, often double-gloved, are standard.

Masks: Type IIR vs FFP2 vs FFP3

Mask selection still carries post-pandemic confusion. The three grades are:

• Type IIR mask: a fluid-resistant surgical mask tested to BS EN 14683. This is the baseline for routine dental treatment and for most non-AGP procedures. Standard surgical masks without the “R” fluid-resistant rating are not appropriate chairside.
• FFP2 mask: a filtering facepiece respirator tested to BS EN 149, filtering at least 94% of airborne particles. Some practices use this mask as an additional precaution during AGPs.
• FFP3 mask filters at least 99% of particles and is the respirator specified under transmission-based precautions when an AGP is performed on a patient with a suspected or confirmed infectious respiratory illness. Any tight-fitting respirator must be fit-tested for each wearer to comply with HSE requirements.

Eye protection, visors and face shields

Eye protection is mandatory for the operator, nurse and patient. A face shield or visor protects the whole face and can be worn over a mask and loupes. Reusable visors must be disinfected between patients; single-use visors are simpler in high-throughput surgeries.

Aprons and gowns

Disposable aprons protect the tunic from splashes during routine procedures and are changed between patients. A fluid-resistant disposable gown provides better coverage of the arms and torso during AGPs where a large amount of aerosol is expected, as well as during surgical procedures.

Donning and doffing PPE: the sequence that matters

Correct donning and doffing of PPE stops self-contamination at the end of the procedure, where most breaches occur.

Donning order: hand hygiene → apron or gown → mask or respirator (fit-check) → eye protection or visor → gloves.

Doffing order: gloves → apron or gown → hand hygiene → eye protection or visor → mask (handle only by the straps) → hand hygiene.

Remove the most contaminated items first, and never touch the front of the mask or visor with bare hands. Print the sequence and put it beside the clinical hand-wash basin.

Single-use consumables and barrier protection per patient

If PPE protects people, dental consumables protect the environment and the next patient: a disposable item removes a cleaning step that could fail.

Patient bibs, cups, saliva ejectors and 3-in-1 tips

Disposable bibs are the visible face of infection control from the patient’s chair. Two-ply dental bibs with a poly backing stop saliva and prophy paste soaking through, and an adhesive back avoids reusable bib chains. Rinse cups, saliva ejector tips and 3-in-1 tips are all single-patient items open them in front of the patient; it reassures them and demonstrates good practice to any inspector.

Barrier film, headrest covers and tray paper

Surfaces touched during treatment but hard to disinfect, like the light handle, chair controls, curing-light tip, and intraoral camera, should be covered with barrier film or sleeves and changed between patients. Disposable headrest covers and tray paper do the same for the chair and tray and are far quicker to change than to wipe down.

Sterilisation pouches and traceability

Sterilisation pouches with integrated process indicators allow instruments to be wrapped before autoclaving and stored sealed until the moment of use. Under HTM 01-05 pouches should be dated, and best practice is to record the cycle number for traceability. Keep at least four weeks’ stock; a run-out means unwrapped instruments and a shorter shelf life.

Surface disinfection between patients

Between every patient, all touched surfaces in the operating zone must be cleaned and disinfected. Disinfectant wipes compatible with your upholstery and effective against enveloped viruses and bacteria in a short contact time are the most practical option, combining cleaning and disinfection in one step. Sprays need a dwell time and a wipe with a blue roll to finish.

Clinical waste and sharps disposal

Clinical waste in England is managed under HTM 07-01 and must be segregated at the point of production. Orange bags take infectious waste for treatment, yellow bags take waste for incineration, yellow-and-black tiger bags take offensive (non-infectious) refuse such as used bibs and couch rolls, and white containers take amalgam. Sharps disposal uses rigid, UN-approved sharps bins with colour-coded lids, filled to no more than the line and closed and dated before collection. Used single-use items and disposable gloves never go in domestic waste.

Dental practice infection control checklist (printable)

Use this checklist as the basis for your written protocol. Each line references the product category that makes it possible.

Frequency	Task	Category
Per patient	Hand hygiene at all 5 moments, dry with a single-use paper towel
Per patient	New gloves, apron, Type IIR mask (FFP3 for AGPs where indicated), visor cleaned or replaced
Per patient	New bib, cup, saliva ejector, 3-in-1 tip, barrier film, tray paper, headrest cover
Per patient	Wipe all touched surfaces with disinfectant wipes; change couch roll.	Dental consumables / hygiene paper
Daily	Autoclave and washer-disinfector daily tests logged; check pouch and glove stock levels.	Dental consumables / PPE
Daily	Refill hand towels, blue rolls and soap dispensers; empty and reline waste bins.
Weekly	Deep clean of decontamination room; check sharps bins and clinical waste storage
Quarterly	Review PPE fit-test records and staff training; stock audit of all single-use items.
Annually	Full infection control audit against HTM 01-05 and SICPs; update policies; prepare CQC evidence folder	All

Stock planning: consumption per 100 patients

Running out mid-session forces compromises, so stock levels are themselves an infection control issue. Typical usage per 100 patient visits:

Item	Approx. usage / 100 patients
Nitrile gloves (operator + nurse, with changes)	500–600 gloves
Type IIR masks	200–250
Disposable aprons	200
Dental bibs	100–110
Cups, saliva ejectors, 3-in-1 tips	100–120 each
Sterilisation pouches	300–500 (depends on tray set-up)
Paper hand towels	1,000–1,500 sheets
Blue roll / couch roll	2–3 rolls

To make ordering simpler, VSDent groups everything in this article on a single PPE and consumables page, so the whole per-patient kit can be replenished in one order.

Common infection control mistakes CQC flags

• Reprocessing single-use items like saliva ejectors, prophy cups, and endodontic files that are marked single-use.
• Gloves were changed instead of hand hygiene gloves, and hands were not washed in between.
• PPE was worn outside the surgery, with gloves in reception and a mask under the chin.
• Cloth towels or air dryers at clinical hand-wash basins are a direct SICP breach.
• No fit-test records for staff using FFP3 respirators.
• Missing annual audit: the work is done but cannot be evidenced.

Frequently asked questions

What PPE must a dentist wear in the UK?

For routine treatment: disposable gloves, a fluid-resistant Type IIR mask, eye protection (glasses or visor) and a disposable apron. Dentists must wear a fit-tested FFP3 respirator, a visor, and a fluid-resistant gown for aerosol-generating procedures on patients with suspected respiratory infections.

Is HTM 01-05 still current in 2026?

Yes. HTM 01-05 remains the decontamination guidance for primary care dental practices in England; Scotland published its own SHTM 01-05 in 2024, and Wales uses WHTM 01-05. Follow your nation’s version alongside the National IPC Manual.

Do I need an FFP3 mask for all aerosol-generating procedures?

Not for every AGP. A Type IIR mask with eye protection is the baseline. FFP3 is specified when transmission-based precautions apply, for example, during an AGP on a patient with a suspected or confirmed infectious respiratory illness, and must be fit-tested to the wearer.

Are paper towels or hand dryers better for infection control?

Single-use paper towels. They dry hands faster, remove residual microorganisms through friction, and do not disperse bacteria into the air the way jet-air dryers can. UK IPC guidance specifies disposable paper towels at clinical hand-wash basins.

Summary

Good infection control is a repeatable per-patient routine you can evidence, not just more equipment. Hand hygiene delivered through single-use hygiene paper, correctly selected and properly removed PPE, and a disciplined single-use dental consumables protocol cover most of what HTM 01-05, the SICPs and the CQC will ask of you. Build your written policy on the checklist above, keep stock healthy, and the annual audit becomes a formality. For everything covered here, VSDent supplies UK dental supplies across PPE, consumables and hygiene paper from one place