Objectives:

To determine the policies and procedures used for the decontamination and maintenance of dental handpieces in general dental practice.

Methods:

Data were collected by observation and interview in 179 dental surgeries using a standardised data collection form.

Results:

Handpiece cleaning, lubrication and sterilization procedures varied considerably between surgeries. For the cleaning process, a minority of surgeries (5%) used an ultrasonic bath to clean their devices. The remainder manually cleaned the external surface of the handpiece using a variety of detergent and disinfectant solutions. The majority of surgeries (92%) lubricated their handpieces prior to autoclaving, although 24% lubricated their handpieces both before and after sterilization. Ninety eight percent of surgeries autoclaved their handpieces in type N sterilizers, with 21% of the surgeries packaging their handpieces prior to autoclaving. Twenty five percent of surgeries regularly maintained their handpieces. However, few surgeries had a written policy for these procedures.

Conclusions:

This observational survey provides a useful insight into current dental handpiece decontamination. The majority of dental handpieces undergo manual cleaning of the external surface; little or no cleaning of the internal lumens and chambers is undertaken. Cleaning is usually followed by lubrication of the internal workings of the handpiece; many of the lubricants are not water soluble. The majority of dental handpieces are processed in a non-vacuum sterilizer. Impaired cleaning of dental handpiece lumens and impaired steam penetration using non-vacuum sterilizers potentially compromises the decontamination process. Further work is necessary to improve consistency of dental handpiece decontamination; in particular validated methodologies for the cleaning of handpiece lumens are required.

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