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Session
5 - Monitoring Dental Unit Water Quality
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5.1 Introduction
5.2 How to Monitor DUW
5.3 When to Monitor DUW
5.4 Summary
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5.1
Introduction |
Compliance with waterline protocols must be monitored just as office
sterilizers are monitored on a regular schedule. Routine testing
of your "output dental water" can be easily and rapidly accomplished
in order to assure the effectiveness of your particular protocol.
Routine testing can help locate procedural errors and/or noncompliance.
Research has shown that since bacterial growth is logarithmic
in nature, that improperly treated units can quickly re-colonize
from only small numbers of surviving organisms. Furthermore, even
dental units that are idle for periods of time will show re-growth
of biofilms.
Monitoring may be accomplished by sending water samples to an outside
microbiology lab at costs ranging up to $150 per test.
Alternatively, monitoring can be accomplished in the office with
simplified in-office monitors such as those made by Pall
Medical (Aquasafe Water Test Kit), Waterclave
or by the Millipore
Corporation.
In session 5.2, we will discuss how
to monitor dental unit water.
This completes 5.1. |
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