Updated 2026
Written by Dr Sam — practising dentist, Australia, and the clinician behind this directory. About the author →
Decontamination CPD is easy to treat as a box-tick, and that’s exactly how practices drift into bad habits — instruments packaged wet, indicators unchecked, logbooks completed retrospectively before an audit. The free courses worth doing walk the full cycle from chairside pre-cleaning through washer-disinfector or ultrasonic stages to sterilisation, storage and traceability, and explain the why behind each step well enough that your team can spot a shortcut being taken.
My suggestion is to do this CPD as a whole team rather than delegating it to one nurse. The chain fails at its least-informed link, and shared understanding makes the daily and weekly testing routines self-policing. Australian readers should anchor everything to current infection-prevention standards and their state requirements; the principles travel, but the paperwork is local.
A snapshot of the current directory: the strict topic matcher identifies 21 courses relevant to Decontamination & Sterilisation across 11 providers. 19 are marked as having certificates, and 1 run two CPD hours or longer.
Decontamination is one of the areas where small errors can have serious consequences. Regular CPD helps the whole dental team understand not only what needs to happen, but why each stage matters.
FreeDentalCPD brings relevant courses together in one searchable directory so dental professionals can compare learning across providers without checking every site separately.
Browse Decontamination & Sterilisation CPDWhat to look for
The most useful courses are those that connect everyday instrument flow with risk management, documentation and local guidance.
- Instrument cleaning and inspection
- Sterilisation cycles and storage
- Tracking and traceability
- Validation and maintenance
- Surgery-to-sterilisation workflow
- Responsibilities across the dental team
Providers and course sources to compare
Relevant courses may appear across manufacturer learning platforms, broader dental webinar providers and professional education sites. The directory section below draws from your course repository and surfaces the closest matching entries automatically.
- Viva Learning and manufacturer portals
- Colgate Oral Health Network and Philips Oral Healthcare Learning
- Specialist education providers
How to choose the right course
Start with the courses that match your role and local obligations, then add broader learning that improves day-to-day patient care and team systems. Certificate availability is worth checking before you begin, especially where the course is being used for a workplace or regulatory record.
Latest courses from the directory
- Five Critical Minutes: Instrument Reprocessing Update 2015
- From Dirty to Sterile: Building a Bulletproof Instrument Reprocessing Workflow
- Instrument Reprocessing: Setting the Record Straight
- Respiratory Protection in Oral Care Settings: Part IV (The Importance of Sterilization Device Reprocessing and Monitoring in Oral Care Settings)
- What’s Bugging the Dentist: Instrument Processing, Sterilization and Waterlines
- Best Practices and Simple Solutions in Sterilization
- Can't Touch This - How to Optimize Cleaning and Surface Disinfection in the Clinical Setting
- Cleaning the Pipes: Insights About Your Suction System You Never Knew You Needed to Know
- Cleaning, Disinfecting, and Sterilizing in the Dental Office
- Handpiece Sterilization in a Post-Covid-19 World
- Infection Control & Device Reprocessing in the Dental Setting
- Laser-Activated Irrigation (LAI): Revolutionizing Endodontic Cleaning and Disinfection
Showing 12 of 21 relevant courses from the directory. 19 are marked as having certificates. Search the directory for this topic.
Frequently asked questions
Is decontamination CPD relevant to the whole team?
Yes. Anyone involved in clinical care, instrument handling, surgery setup or practice compliance should understand decontamination processes.
Can free courses count towards CPD?
They can, provided the learning is relevant and you record it appropriately. Certificate availability varies between providers.
What should I look for in a course?
Choose courses that cover instrument flow, documentation, validation, infection control links and common sources of error.
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