Animals and Plants in the Dental Office: What IPAC Standards Say

Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) is at the heart of safe dental care. While much of the conversation focuses on sterilization, PPE, and operatory protocols, questions often arise about something more everyday: Can we have animals or plants in the dental office?

The answer lies in understanding accessibility laws, IPAC standards, and the principle that everything in the patient care environment must be capable of being cleaned and disinfected.

Animals in the Dental Office

Service animals, such as trained dogs assisting patients with disabilities, are permitted in dental offices under accessibility and inclusion laws. These animals must be allowed entry and cannot be denied access to care.

Emotional support or personal pets, however, are not protected under these laws and are not permitted in dental offices unless they qualify as certified service animals.

That said, staff members sometimes wonder if they can bring a dog to the office simply for a visit or morale boost. While the answer in clinical areas is a clear no, offices may consider alternatives:

• Visits outside the clinical environment: Could the dog's "meet and greet" happen in the parking lot or a designated staff room, away from patients and care areas?
• Hand hygiene practices: Staff must perform hand hygiene before and after touching the dog. The dog is a fomite, and your hands are a fomite that have the potential to cross contaminate.
• Barrier precautions: If interaction occurs indoors in a staff room, staff must wear gowns to prevent contamination of clothing and reduce fur contamination. Consideration would also need to be given to cleaning the floor post the dog's visit.

While not routine practice, these considerations highlight the risks that must be mitigated when animals are introduced outside of their official role as service animals.

Plants in the Dental Office

Unlike animals, there is no explicit wording that states "plants cannot be present" in a dental office. Perfect, so you can have plants, right? No, because IPAC standards are clear that only items that can be routinely cleaned and disinfected belong in the health care environment. Have you ever seen a plant in the emergency room you were treated? In the emergency triage? In the radiography room? Dental offices are considered a health care facility and fall under public health's standards for environmental cleaning. So, the proof is not in the IPAC standards but in the environmental cleaning guidelines.

Public Health Ontario's Best Practices for Environmental Cleaning (2018) outlines that:

• Only surfaces, furnishings, and equipment that can be effectively cleaned and disinfected may be purchased, installed, or used in health care environments.
• Materials must be smooth, nonporous, and seamless to allow proper disinfection with hospital-grade cleaners.
• Items that support or promote microbial growth must not be used in health care settings.
• Policies should be in place for selecting all surfaces and furnishings, with input from IPAC and environmental services.

Implications for Plants

• Live plants cannot be disinfected and introduce porous soil, organic matter, and microbial growth.
• They do not meet PHO's criteria for surfaces and furnishings in patient care environments — including both clinical and reception areas.
• The guiding principle is simple: if it cannot be cleaned and disinfected, it should not be in the dental office environment.

In the language of IPAC and environmental cleaning, a plant is considered a surface. Just as countertops, stools, and equipment must be smooth and nonporous, anything in the care environment, even in waiting rooms, must be able to withstand routine cleaning with hospital-grade disinfectants. Since live plants cannot, they are not appropriate for dental office settings.

Final Thoughts

While service animals are protected under law and must be accommodated, emotional support animals and personal pets should remain outside of patient care environments. Similarly, although plants may seem harmless, they introduce infection risks that cannot be mitigated within the standards of a dental office.

By following IPAC's guiding principle — if it cannot be cleaned and disinfected, it doesn't belong in the office — dental teams can keep both patients and staff safe while maintaining compliance with public health standards.

Michelle Aubé (Simmonds) RDH, maxill Dental Hygiene Educator

Michelle is a Dental Hygiene Speaker, Consultant and Educator with over 30 years of experience as a RDH and 4 years as a CDA. She is a professor and curriculum writer at Fanshawe College in both the dental hygiene and continuing education program sharing her knowledge in IPAC, professional practice, periodontal classification, social justice, advocacy and clinical applications. She is maxill's CE and IPAC Director and wears various IPAC hats including auditing federal correctional facilities dental clinics for IPAC standards. Michelle is ODHA's Regional Board Director and authors articles for CDHA's OH Canada professional publication and continues to practice clinically in London ON. She is a CDHO IPAC Remedial Facilitator and IPAC Expert Opinion. Her strong ethics has allowed her to serve on the Discipline Committee at Algonquin College and hold the position of a CDHO Quality Assurance Assessor for 7 years. As a lifelong learner she is completing a BA in Adult Education at Brock University. Her diverse dental background and current status as a practicing RDH offer a fulsome and realistic view of dental-related topics. As a passionate champion for the profession, she advocates for equity, professional autonomy, and systemic change, true grassroots leadership at its finest.

Michelle can be reached at [email protected]