Purpose The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recog-

nizes patient safety as an essential component of quality oral health care for infants, children, adolescents, and those with special health care needs. The AAPD encourages dentists to consider thoughtfully the environment in which they deliver healthcare services and to implement practices that decrease a patient’s risk of injury or harm during the delivery of care. This policy is not intended to duplicate safety rec-ommendations for medical facilities accredited by national commissions such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or those related to workplace safety such as Occupational Safety & Health Administration. Methods This policy is based on a review of current dental and medical literature, including a systematic literature search of the MEDLINE/PubMed ® electronic data base using the followin