ADA standards, technical reports available for comment

Deadline for remarks is Jan. 29

Several standards and technical reports are available for comment from the American Dental Association's standards committees.

The Standards Committee on Dental Informatics has approved the following new and revised standards and technical reports for circulation and comment:

• Proposed ADA Standard No. 1099 for Digital Panoramic and Cephalometric Radiographic Systems: The purpose of this standard is to establish clear protocols to ensure adequate quality assurance for digital panoramic and cephalometric radiographic examinations. There are essentially three components involved with any panoramic and cephalometric digital imaging system: the X-ray source, the digital image acquisition device with a solid-state sensor or photostimulable phosphor imaging plate and scanner, and the image display device. This standard addresses each of these components.

• Revised Technical Report No. 1021 for Data Integrity, Redundancy, Storage and Accessibility: This updated report reviews options presently available to prevent data loss and corruption, maintain data integrity, and restore and maintain access to data, noting their effects on a dental facility’s standard operating procedures. It also discusses appropriate contingency plans in emergency situations for recovery and authentication of the data.

• Revised ADA Technical Report No. 1081 for FDA's Unique Device Identification Program for Dental Devices and Biologics Regulated as Medical Devices: This technical report discusses the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's unique device identification rule establishing a system to identify medical devices from manufacturing through distribution to the consumer. The report provides dental practitioners with an understanding of this rule and what is required for dental devices used in practice, from the clinician's perspective.

• Revised ADA Technical Report No. 1096 for Electronic Protected Health Information HIPAA Security Risk Analysis: As more and more dental offices are going paperless, there is a corresponding expansion of information that is stored or transferred electronically, thus increasing the potential for a breach. Performing a risk analysis is an essential first step toward mitigation of this risk. This revised report presents the latest information that covered practitioners need in fulfilling their obligation to conduct a security risk analysis, develop a plan to protect patient data privacy and security, and train the dental team.

These draft standards and technical reports can be downloaded from  ADA.org/aipreview . The comment deadline is Jan. 29.

The ADA Standards Committee on Dental Products has approved for circulation and comment proposed ADA Standard No. 165 for Vocabulary of Process Chain for Dental CAD/CAM Systems. This new standard specifies terms, synonyms for terms and definitions used in the process chain for computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing systems in dentistry.

Differing terms and designations for individual system parts and process steps used in product descriptions and instructions for use are employed by the various manufacturers of dental CAD/CAD systems. To provide guidance and avoid confusion among dentists and dental technicians, the Standards Committee on Dental Products decided to prepare a standard for vocabulary used in the process chain for CAD/CAM systems.

To review this standard, email standards@ada.org . The comment deadline is Jan. 29.

The ADA is accredited by the American National Standards Institute to develop national standards for products and information technology used by dental professionals and consumers. There are currently more than 100 national standards, and more are under development.