%0 Journal Article
%T A new chemical formulation for control of dental unit water line contamination: An 'in vitro' and clinical 'study'
%A Lucio Montebugnoli
%A Giovanni Dolci
%J BMC Oral Health
%D 2002
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1472-6831-2-1
%X Six old dental units equipped with a device designed to automatically flush disinfecting solutions through the water system (Castellini Autosteril) were selected. Water samples from DUWL effluents were collected in each dental unit for 10 randomly selected days, before and after a 5 minute DUWL disinfecting cycle with TetraAcetylEthileneDiamine (TAED) and persalt (Ster4spray produced by Farmec spa, and distributed by Castellini spa). Water samples were plated in R2A Agar and cultured at room temperature for 7 days, and the total number of heterotrophic microorganisms counted and expressed in Log10 CFU/mL A general linear model was fitted and multiple regression ANOVA for repeated measures was used for the statistical analysis.The mean contamination in DUWL effluent at baseline was 5.45 ¡À 0.35 CFU/mL (range 4.79 to 5.93 CFU/mL). When water samples were tested "in vitro" against the chemical, no growth of heterotrophic bacteria was detected after a 5 minute contact in any of the water samples tested. After undergoing a 5 minute disinfecting cycle with the chemical, DUWL mean contamination in water effluents was 2.01 ¡À 0.32 CFU/mL (range 1.30 to 2.74 CFU/mL) (significant difference with respect to baseline).An inbetween patient disinfecting procedure consisting of flushing DUWL with TAED and persalt equivalent to 0.26% peracetic acid could be useful in routine dental practice for cross-contamination control.It has been known for more than 30 years that water delivered by dental units during routine dental practice is highly contaminated by numerous species of pathogen and non-pathogen microorganisms which enter dental units retracted up from the oral cavity of patients undergoing dental treatment or delivered by incoming municipal water, the so called heterotrophic bacteria [1-3]. Inside dental units, heterotrophic bacteria persist in DUWLs growing as a multispecie biofilm on the inner surface and continuously supplying dental unit water system. In 1996 American Dental
%U http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6831/2/1