DENTAL UNIT WATER LINE (DUWL) HYGIENE AND MONITORING

The primary goal of infection control in a dental clinic is reducing or eliminating the risk of cross-contamination, in order to provide a safe environment for both patients and staff.  Two of the four main infection vectors in dentistry are direct or indirect contact and common vehicle spread, which can happen through vehicles such as poorly maintained dental waterlines and plumbing*.

Environmental hygiene processes in the dental practice such as surface decontamination are essential tools in breaking the chain of infection. A cleaning regimen using microfibre cloths has been shown to be highly effective for environmental cleaning. However, few dental practices have on-site facilities to launder the infectious cloths at 60-90˚C after use. 

In addition other equipment such as the dental chair, dental hand-pieces, 3-in-1 syringe handle and hoses, lights, brackets, and cabinets will require surface decontamination. Many areas such as switches, light handles, buttons on the 3-in-1, ultrasonic handles and other buttons can be really tricky to clean effectively.

Using our nomad testers can help you set up a dental unit hygiene monitoring program.

Most dental units are inactive around 75% of the time during a normal week. During this inactive time, microbial biofilms can form rapidly and within a week can begin shedding bacterial counts of up to 104-106 colony forming units (cfu) into your waterlines, presenting an elevated infection risk. What's more, bacteria in biofilms are more resistant to treatment with disinfectants, UV light and dehydration than non-attached cells.

There are many ways that bacteria and other microorganisms can colonize your Dental Unit Water Lines (DUWL). Microbes can arrive with incoming water, or can be transferred due to backflow of oral fluids via the dental hand-pieces, failures of the independent water reservoir system's aseptic function, or simply through insufficient cleaning.

There is no single effective solution for preventing contamination. You usually need a combination of flushing, fitting anti-retraction valves, using biocids or microbial filters, and UV treatment in order to control infection risk.

Dental unit waterline management regulations and guidelines are designed to reduce and maintain environmental aerobic Gram-negative and oral bacteria at below the acceptable limit of 200cfu/ml. Learn more about the data you can obtain using nomad.

Our Swab Kits are ideal for periodic checking of surfaces to ensure that cleaning and disinfection procedures are effective, and that bacterial levels in DUWL are under control and acceptable.