The CDC has established a standard of “less than 500 colony forming units per milliliter for dental unit waterlines.” Should offices be conducting a routing test of this?
We recommend that an office do periodic and random testing on a regular basis – at least quarterly. Test results will vary greatly based on the water quality used, the general maintenance performed, the age of the dental delivery system, if quick disconnects are used, etc. There are several in-office test methods available. One is the HPC Sampler by Millipore. They sell these kits to dentists directly. The cost is about +/-$90 for a box of 25. Dentists can see or order them at www.millipore.com or by calling 1-800-Millipore. Pall Corporation also makes a product call Aqua-Safe that looks much like a petri dish. This product is sold through dealers like Schein. In summary, we’ve found that most offices get by with the daily use of VistaClean&trade followed by monthly use of VistaTab&trade. However, they must have performed the “Initial Cleaning” using 2 tabs twice and be diligent with system care. Again, every system is different and results will vary.
