WA · Sterilization compliance
Washington Dental Sterilization Compliance Requirements
What Washington dental practices must do to stay compliant with Washington State Dental Quality Assurance Commission (Dept. of Health), current as of April 2026.
Quick answer
- BI cadence
- Weekly
- Record retention
- 5 years
- Enforcement agency
- Washington State Dental Quality Assurance Commission (Dept. of Health)
- Primary citation
- WAC 246-817-655 (retention); WAC 246-817-601 et seq.
Biological monitoring (spore testing)
Sterilizers must be tested with biological spore tests at least weekly when patients are scheduled.
Worth flagging: 5-year retention is the longest explicit period in the country. Documentation must take the form of a log reflecting dates and person(s) conducting testing, OR copies of reports from an independent testing entity.
Federal guidance applied in Washington
CDC 2003 / 2016 explicitly referenced as basis for WAC 246-817-601 et seq.
Even where state rules are silent on a specific point, the CDC's 2003 Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings are treated as the de facto standard of care by every US state board. Boards routinely cite practices for "unprofessional conduct" when CDC standards are not followed.
What you should keep on file
- A weekly (or per-state-cadence) biological-indicator log with matching control results, lot numbers, and expiration dates
- A per-cycle log identifying sterilizer, operator, load contents, and chemical-indicator result
- Documented response to any positive spore test (recall procedure, retest result, root cause)
- Sterilizer maintenance and service records (preventive maintenance + repair)
- A list of staff authorized to operate sterilizers, with training completion dates
- A written infection-control plan referencing CDC 2003 guidelines
How Cuspid handles Washington compliance
- Captures BI tests on the cadence required by Washington, with matching control results and lot tracking
- Auto-generates an audit-ready PDF over any date range, filtered to your sterilizers and staff
- Triggers a documented remediation workflow on every positive spore test
- Maintains tamper-evident audit trail of who logged what and when