WISEDENT is an experienced dental equipment & dental handpiece manufacturer over 10+ years.
Language
WISEDENT is an experienced dental equipment & dental handpiece manufacturer over 10+ years.
And it can be confusing at first when you’re the sole person responsible for it in your own practice.
In this post, we’ll go super in-depth on each aspect of dental high speed handpiece sterilization. Let’s start!
As soon as you finish up with a patient, take that dental fast handpiece out of their mouth and use the water and air system of the dental comprehensive treatment table to flush the internal water and air circuits of the high speed handpiece for 30 seconds to preliminarily remove large particle contaminants on the surface. Mainly use water and air from the treatment table to rinse the dental drill. You need to quickly wash away any visible saliva, blood, tooth bits, or other gunk before they have a chance to dry on the equipment.
Hardened debris takes way more effort to remove later. But a quick rinse right away helps break some of that material down and keeps it from really sticking to the high speed dental drill.
Once rinsed, go ahead and submerge the entire high speed dental handpiece in an enzymatic detergent bath. Let it soak for a minimum of 10 minutes, longer is fine. The enzymatic solution helps dissolve away biofilm coatings over time through active digestion.
We definitely recommend using an ultrasonic cleaner if you have one. The added vibration and cavitation helps the enzymes penetrate deeper to break up even more material. But don’t stress if ultrasonic isn’t in your budget yet. The enzymatic soak alone still does wonders!
Yet, not all enzymatic cleaners are created equal. Look for one specially formulated for dental instruments, not general purpose. And replace the solution each day to maintain potency. This step loosens up a ton of gunk, making scrubbing much easier.
Under flowing water, get a little brush and rub the whole outside of the high speed handpiece around – especially on the part where you put your fingers, if it has any rough or textured stuff at all, because those can hold out little organisms in crevices or ridges. Bump and shake and stir all the stuff off that’s still hanging on.
Focus on scrub tail end and the head! You want every exterior surface to be spotless.
Okay. Now, the inside: Clean the dental high speed handpiece air inlet tubing with a running water, or flush the air inlet tubing inside with a pressurized water jet.
Then twist the brushes around inside the whole neck, hole, water hole and right into the head. Scrub. Take your time. Scrub the inside all around you must sterilize all that has entered the body.
Once you have thoroughly scrubbed both the internals and externals of the high speed dental drill, rinse it out under a running water and triple check that whatever contaminants might still be present were certainly scrubbed clean.
Lastly, draw away any puddles of standing water that remain on the exterior housing and down into the holes with compressed air. With the dental high speed handpiece removed, blow air thoroughly through the full length of the handpiece, interchange between the air and water line several times. 100 percent dry.
You certainly must use a manual air compressor that comes with its very own microfilter or – better – other kind of filter, so that you aren’t spraying unfiltered microbes into your high speed handpiece and into your labs.
Before it can used, it must be bone-dry, packed into a sterilization pouch or container, which, once processed, will be aseptic for the pack, with packaging also permitting sealed ‘instrument storage’ between uses, so they can be stored for long periods and in the sterile state.
So, which sort of package? Paper-plastic pouches (which fit most handpieces), wrap-style cardboard/paper wraps (for simple instruments), rigid containers (for fragile items: protected sterilization-and-storage).
Pick pouches and wraps snug enough to contain each device yet with a bit of extra room; space will inevitably be left between any mission-critical gear and its protective bag if packed too tightly. Seal the pouches and containers tight – a condensation barrier needs to be completely waterproof and air-impermeable.
The accepted, most commonly used and most efficient method of sterilization is steam autoclaving. Saturated steam in an autoclave is heated up to extremely high pressure, reaching temperatures above 250°F (121°C) in just a few minutes. At such high heat and pressure, microorganisms die almost instantly, because the water in their cells turns into explosive steam.
For a dental office, I suggest the ‘gravity displacement’ cycle autoclave, which creates a vacuum to pull the air out of the chamber, then opens the valve and floods the inner cavity with pressurized steam for a specific length of time. Cycle length is 20-30 minutes.
Yes, it is really important to keep the dental high speed handpiece packages in vertical orientation in the autoclave chamber so that there is steam flow on both the sides. No, do not overload them. They will not like it, neither for the UV light intensity nor for the steam penetration.
The other option: dry heat sterilization. All dry heat sterilization methods use only high temperature, and no additional steam (which means no pressure). Dry heat temperatures range from about 320°F and up to 340°F.
The obvious advantage of dry heat sterilization is that the tools, or whatever else is being sterilized, will not be damaged by steam.
Dry heat penetrates much less efficiently – this is usually a process of at least 60 minutes or more – and capacity is much less than an autoclave of similar physical size, built oven-style.
Either way, you can pretty much get it to work just fine, as long as you do it right, which means, of course, following the manufacturer’s instructions to the letter – literally – with regard to temperature, time, pressure and so on to achieve perfect sterilization when the process is over. That way, the high speed handpiece will be safe for your next patient, and ready to go.
Hooray, your hand piece is now 100 per cent sterile! And the fine sterilization is easily ruined, in storage, if you’re not careful, so here’s the real scoop on sterile storage.
First, get them sealed to go and, after processing, put them into sterile cabinets (don’t put them in drawers). And never wolf down your samples!
If you’re using paper-plastic pouches, store them vertically, and avoid letting any liquid pool at the bottom seam, which could penetrate and ruin your paper container. Moisture degradation and seal leaks can also produce the same risks of contamination. Not good.
Use the oldest sterile packages first and work your way downward. Note the dates printed on a container or wrapped/packed item, or an expiration period on any autoclave tape. Some types maintain sterility longer than others.
Just make sure that you store your sterile system protected against the infiltration of UV light, humidity changes, contamination and the other threats of packaged items. A clean, dry storage cabinet in your office should be just fine.
You sterilize your dental high speed handpiece: sterile, invulnerable, ready for another day’s patients!
And, like any other tool, high speed dental drills need regular care and maintenance to run at their best year after year. These are some of the most important maintenance tips.
• Lubricate internal components often to prevent corrosion. Special dental oil works wonders!
• Check for any worn areas, loose components or damage. Replace rollers, bearings, seals, etc., as needed.
• Test run it on a simulator to verify perfect dental fast handpiece function and precision.
• Swap out internal water lines, filters, seals periodically - don't wait for full failure.
• Follow the manufacturer’s schedule for recommended upkeep.
I hope this guide gives you a helpful starting point for setting up effective sterilization workflows in your new practice. Let me know if you have any other questions come up! Whether you are looking for high-quality dental handpiece or customized services, Wisedent can provide it!
Q: Can I use a dishwasher or washing machine to clean my high speed handpieces?
No, not dishwashers or washing machines – the wash cycles just aren’t long or hot enough to sterilize infected instruments, especially since they never, ever get into tight places where bacteria can lurk.
The first process is that they must soak the instrument in the handpeace disinfect (sanitised), brush it by hand, next process is dry heat sterilizing and steam autoclave (high heated) sterlising processes.
Q: How often should I replace my high speed dental drill?
All manufacturers of dental high speed handpieces state that, for normal working hours in a general practice with a good maintenance culture, the average life of a high speed dental drill never exceeds 2-3 years.
This suggest the good mixture of safe, operate and cost-effectively. unless it is for daily work with heavy use, then replace yearly.
Q:Why does my high speed dental handpiece make a loud screeching noise?
Often, it is an irritating recurring sound or squeal of the high speed handpiece and is usually because of any broken link in the turbines or bearings of the headpiece. Before you do anything to the broken headpiece, first apply the oil to the turbines to lubricate the turbines.
If the sound continues to remain, call the technician to get the headpiece opened and the parts that are worn off or broken to be replaced and fit the gasket. Do not continue to use even a small part that is broken or defective of the handpiece as this would result in overheating of the handpiece.
Q: Are all sterilization pouches and wraps equally effective?
Not really! The paper-plastic pouch offers the strongest sterile barrier with the longest shelf life, while the wrap-style wrapper offers a convenient but less-robust alternative for short-term storage.
Look for tears, holes and seal breaches around the expiration date. Use medical-grade packages from reputed suppliers.
