Biohazard Pickup Once a Year, Expired Wipes Put Colorado Pediatric Dentist on Probation

Edited by Dentaltown staff

Biohazard waste picked up once a year. Disinfecting wipes past their expiration dates in two operatories. Even the fire extinguisher in a central closet had expired.

Those findings, from an unannounced inspection this summer, helped land a Pueblo, Colorado, pediatric dentist on probation, and she has admitted to every one of them.

The Colorado Dental Board placed Dr. Olga Jasina of Pueblo Pediatric Dentistry on probation for at least 12 months under a final order that took effect Oct. 8. Colorado Springs TV station KRDO first reported the order Oct. 28.

The case began with a Feb. 25 inspection that found infection-control violations, according to an earlier agreement with the board. Jasina denied the allegations at the time but voluntarily agreed, effective March 30, to stop practicing while the board investigated. That nondisciplinary agreement stayed in place until the final order replaced it more than six months later.

An unannounced follow-up inspection on or around Aug. 12 found five items out of compliance, according to the October order. In-use containers of disinfecting wipes had expired in two operatories and on the sterilization room counter, biohazard waste was collected on an annual basis, and staff training and use of personal protective equipment fell below accepted standards. The other two were the expired extinguisher and Jasina’s inability to produce documentation showing board approval of her radiographic training modules.

Jasina admitted the findings and admitted they violated the Colorado Dental Practice Act provision on generally accepted infection-control standards. Her license is now active with restrictions. Neither the earlier agreement nor the final order identifies a patient who was harmed.

The probation terms come with a loop built in. Jasina has 30 days to fix every deficiency and send the board a detailed report showing how, and within 60 days she and her staff must complete an approved OSHA course of at least seven hours. After that, a board-appointed consultant will show up for a random, unannounced inspection on a date of the consultant’s choosing, and Jasina pays for it.

If the office fails, she and her staff take another seven-hour course and face another surprise inspection, repeating the cycle until the office passes. A failed inspection also counts as a probation violation.

Probation won’t end on its own after a year. Jasina has to request termination in writing, and only time spent in full compliance counts. KRDO reported that it contacted her by email and phone and had not heard back as of publication.

She is the third southern Colorado dentist whose infection-control violations the station has reported in recent months, after Dr. Scott Hirsbrunner of White Diamond Dental in Monument and Dr. Bryce Nielson of Premier Dental in Colorado Springs. Along the way, KRDO learned that Colorado doesn’t regulate dental offices as facilities. The Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies told the station that the board can order an office inspection after a complaint, and that 86 of the 142 infection-control complaints it received against dentists over five years ended in something other than dismissal.

The once-a-year biohazard pickup is the line that jumps off the order, and Colorado’s medical waste rules put it in perspective. Under the state health department’s regulations, a practice can keep properly packaged putrescible medical waste on site for up to 30 days without refrigeration, or up to 90 days if it’s refrigerated or frozen. Sharps containers and other non-putrescible waste can stay up to 90 days. Holding waste any longer requires a state Certificate of Designation. The dental board’s order cites infection-control standards rather than those waste rules, and it doesn’t say what kind of waste was being stored or how much.

The rest of the findings are the kind of thing that could slip in a busy office: an in-use container of wipes past its date, a training record that never made it into the file, an extinguisher nobody rechecked. When KRDO covered the first case in the series, Hirsbrunner told the station that friends and family in the industry said their offices could face similar findings if inspected closely enough. With state regulators saying Colorado doesn’t routinely inspect dental offices, plenty of practices may never get that kind of look until a complaint prompts one.

If a board consultant walked into your office unannounced tomorrow, which item would you be most nervous about?

Sources:
Colorado Dental Board, Stipulation and Final Agency Order, Case No. 2026-1289-B, Oct. 8, 2026, and Non-Disciplinary Interim Cessation of Practice Agreement, March 30, 2026: dora.state.co.us (final order), dora.state.co.us (interim agreement)
KRDO, “KRDO13 Investigates: Pueblo children’s dentist on probation after admitting infection control violations,” Oct. 28, 2026: krdo.com/news/13-investigations/dr-olga-jasina-dental-violations
KRDO, “KRDO13 Investigates: Colorado Springs dentist on probation, dental offices not routinely inspected for infection control,” Oct. 7, 2026: krdo.com/news/13-investigations/colorado-springs-dentist-on-probation
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Medical Waste Regulations, 6 CCR 1007-2, Part 1, Section 13, via Cornell Law School’s Legal Information Institute, accessed Nov. 6, 2026: law.cornell.edu/regulations/colorado/6-CCR-1007-2-13