# RDA exam practice questions: Infection control and patient safety Five original RDA exam practice questions on infection control and patient safety, each answered on this page with a rationale and a source. Last updated: 2026-07-25. ## Question 1 Which needle-handling practice is lawful in a California dental office? - A. Bending the needle before disposal so that it cannot be reused. - B. Two-handed recapping performed slowly and carefully after use. - C. Recapping with the one-handed scoop technique or a protective device. - D. Breaking the needle from the hub before placing it in the sharps container. **Answer C:** Recapping with the one-handed scoop technique or a protective device. 16 CCR §1005 permits recapping only by the scoop technique or a protective device and prohibits bending or breaking needles for disposal; Cal/OSHA mirrors the rule, and sharps go into a rigid, puncture-resistant container as close as possible to the point of use. **Common trap:** "bend it so nobody reuses it" is a well-intentioned violation, and carrying an uncapped syringe to another room breaks the point-of-use rule. Source: [16 CCR §1005 — Minimum Standards for Infection Control: standard precautions for all patients; written protocol and conspicuously posted regulation;…](https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/) ## Question 2 A new dental assistant starts work on a Monday. When must the employer make the hepatitis B vaccination available at no cost? - A. Before the first day of work, as a condition of employment. - B. Within 10 working days of initial assignment. - C. Within 30 calendar days of hire. - D. Within one year of the first date of employment. **Answer B:** Within 10 working days of initial assignment. 8 CCR §5193 requires the hepatitis B vaccination to be made available at no cost within 10 working days of initial assignment. **Common trap:** reading "10 working days" as 10 calendar days, or confusing this clock with the Dental Practice Act's one-year window for the DPA course and BLS. Source: [8 CCR §5193 — Cal/OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens standard: universal precautions, written exposure control plan reviewed and updated at least annually,…](https://www.dir.ca.gov/title8/5193.html) ## Question 3 At check-in for a composite restoration in a Sacramento general practice, a patient tells the RDA that she is currently being treated for hepatitis C and asks whether the office needs to "do anything different." What change to the infection-control setup is required for this appointment? - A. Add a second pair of exam gloves, use only single-use disposable instruments, and double-bag the operatory waste. - B. No change — the same standard precautions, PPE, barriers, hand hygiene, and instrument processing used for every patient. - C. Move the patient to the last appointment of the day so the operatory can be deep-cleaned before the next patient. - D. Switch every operatory surface to an intermediate-level tuberculocidal disinfectant for this appointment only. **Answer B:** No change — the same standard precautions, PPE, barriers, hand hygiene, and instrument processing used for every patient. 16 CCR §1005 states the rule in one sentence: "Standard precautions shall be practiced in the care of all patients." Cal/OSHA reaches the same result from the worker-safety side through universal precautions, treating all human blood and certain body fluids as if known to be infectious for HIV, HBV, HCV, and other bloodborne pathogens. Because a health history cannot reliably identify who is infectious, the protocol is already set at a level that assumes infectivity. **Common trap:** Option D is the most seductive because the intermediate-level tuberculocidal product is a real requirement — but it is triggered by a surface visibly contaminated with blood or other potentially infectious material, not by a patient's disclosed diagnosis. Options A and C convert a universal floor into a risk-based tier, which is exactly what standard precautions exist to prevent; the mirror-image stem, where a healthy-looking patient makes a shortcut tempting, fails on the same rule. Source: [16 CCR §1005 — Minimum Standards for Infection Control: standard precautions for all patients, written protocol and posted regulation,…](https://govt.westlaw.com/calregs/) ## Question 4 An RDA is assisting at the try-in and cementation of a small gold onlay on a mandibular second molar. The patient is supine and gags easily. Which measure most directly protects the patient's airway? - A. Place a dental dam or a gauze throat screen before the restoration is carried into the mouth. - B. Raise the chair so the patient is nearly upright for the entire cementation appointment. - C. Hand the saliva ejector to the patient and have them hold it in the floor of the mouth. - D. Transfer the onlay across the patient's chest with the free hand cupped underneath to catch it. **Answer A:** Place a dental dam or a gauze throat screen before the restoration is carried into the mouth. When small items such as crowns, castings, screws, or files are in play, airway protection is a physical barrier placed before the item enters the mouth — a dental dam or a gauze throat screen — and the dam is the strongest single patient-protection device in restorative dentistry because it isolates the tooth, holds soft tissue away, and blocks aspiration and most spatter. Related habits belong to the same rule set: tie floss to a dam clamp so a broken clamp can be retrieved, and transfer instruments below the chin, never across the face. Note the delegation layer — placing and removing the dental dam is on the BPC §1750.1(b) direct-supervision list for an unlicensed DA, and an RDA reaches it through §1752.4(a)(1), where the current authorities are not harmonized; the clinical answer here does not depend on which level applies (registry row A8). **Common trap:** Option D contains a real rule stated backwards: transfers happen below the chin, and a cupped hand is a catch attempt, not airway protection. Option B helps a little with comfort but does not stop a dropped casting, and it is not the controlling protection. Option C confuses a low-volume fluid device with airway control; the saliva ejector removes pooled fluid and will not retain a dropped onlay. Source: [CDC — Guidelines for Infection Control in Dental Health-Care Settings — 2003 (MMWR 2003;52(RR-17)) and Summary of Infection Prevention Practices in…](https://www.cdc.gov/dental-infection-control/hcp/summary/index.html) ## Question 5 A Fresno practice hires a dental assistant who is not licensed as an RDA. She holds a certificate of completion for a Board-approved radiation safety course, and the certificate is displayed at the facility. The dentist asks whether she may expose a full-mouth radiographic series. - A. No — in California only a dentist, a licensed RDA, or a licensed RDH may operate dental radiographic equipment. - B. Yes — an assistant who has completed the Board-approved radiation safety course may operate the equipment. - C. Yes, but only if the dentist remains in the operatory and personally presses the exposure button for each film. - D. No — she must first pass the RDA Combined Written and Law and Ethics Examination and hold the license. **Answer B:** Yes — an assistant who has completed the Board-approved radiation safety course may operate the equipment. Under BPC §1656 and California's radiologic technology framework, dental radiographic equipment may be operated by a dentist, a registered dental hygienist, or a dental assistant who has completed a Board-approved radiation safety course. The Dental Practice Act ties the same course and the display of its certificate to the unlicensed dental assistant's employment requirements. Resolve the duty from the Board's Table of Permitted Duties effective January 1, 2025 rather than from an older chart. **Common trap:** This is a stale-prep item. Options A and D encode the very common belief that the RDA license is what unlocks radiography; the trigger is the course, not the license. Option C invents a supervision condition that is not the operative rule — and it conflicts with a genuine safety rule candidates should keep separate: during an exposure, the operator stands behind a protective barrier and no staff member holds the receptor or the tube head. If a patient cannot stabilize the receptor, an accompanying adult assists, never office staff, and a beam-alignment holder is used instead of a finger. Source: [California Business & Professions Code §1656 — dental radiography authorization: who may operate dental radiographic equipment (dentist, RDH, or…](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=1656.&lawCode=BPC) ## Next step [Take the free 15-question practice test](https://dentovio.com/rda/free-practice-test) Official reference: [Dental Board of California RDA Combined Written and Law and Ethics Examination Outline](https://www.dbc.ca.gov/formspubs/rda_exam_outline.pdf). Original exam-style questions written for study, never recalled exam content. Independent educational preparation, not legal or clinical advice, and not affiliated with or endorsed by the Dental Board of California or PSI. Confirm current requirements with the Dental Board of California.