Question From Our Member - How Can I Be Sure That The Dental Instruments Are Sterile?

Questions From Our Members

J. Ochoa of Los Angeles, California asks: 

“My dentist office has an open floor plan (very low walls between operatories).  I noticed they don't have a lot of hand pieces (picks, explorers, mirrors, etc;).  They have a girl that takes the dirty ones out of the operatory and in just a few minutes comes back with the same tools (colored bands lead me to believe this) in a sterile bag.  How can I be sure that they are in fact sterile.”

Savon’s Answer

In the past I would have been very worried about that.  Most dental offices use an autoclave or chemiclave, the two leading methods of heat sterilization.  These methods can take as little as 30 minutes or up to 2 hours.

If your dental office can turn equipment around that fast, chances are the have a Statim.  This is one of the newer types of sterilization equipment.  Statim sterilizes handpieces and instruments for immediate use in as little as 8 minutes, reducing the number required as instruments can be processed ‘just in time’ or between patients.

You may want to ask your dental office what they use to sterilize their equipment.  As long as it's an autoclave (the newer ones can actually sterilize pretty fast) or a Statim, you have very little to worry about.


Originally posted to our May 2017 Newsletter!