REFERENCES 1. Council Directive 80/778/EEC [European Economic Community] concerning the quality of drinking water intended for human consumption. July 15,1980. 2. Martin MV. The significance of the bacterial contamination of dental unit water systems. Br Dent J 1987;163:152-154. 3. Williams JF, Huntington MK, Johnston AM. Dental waterlines. A source of contamination. Infection Control and Steri...

Prof. Bullock is Professor, The Cardiff Unit for Research and Evaluation in Medical and Dental Education (CUREMeDE), Cardiff University School of Social Sciences, Cardiff, Wales; Dr. Berkey is Professor, Schools of Dental Medicine and Public Health, University of Colorado, Denver; and Dr. Smith is Manager, Geriatric and Special Needs Populations, American Dental Association. Direct corresponden...

The quality of water in a dental unit is of considerable importance because patients and dental staff are regularly exposed to water and aerosol generated from the dental unit. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of microbial contamination in dental unit waterlines. Water samples were collected aseptically from the waterlines (reservoir, triple-syringe, high-speed) of 15 dental...

BACKGROUND It is known that dental unit waterline can be a source of infection. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a mouthwash, chlorhexidine, in controlling microbial and fungal contamination of dental unit waterlines. MATERIALS AND METHODS In the present experimental study, the water in high-speed handpieces and air/water syringes of 35 dental units in a dental school was...

Output water from dental unit waterlines (DUWLs) may be a potential source of infection for both dental healthcare staff and patients. This study compared the efficacy of different disinfection methods with regard to the water quality and the presence of biofilm in DUWLs. Five dental units operating in a public dental health care setting were selected. The control dental unit had no disinfectio...

BACKGROUND A frequent problem in dental units is the microbial contamination of water and biofilm formation in the water supply lines. After random identification of a bacterial contaminated dental unit (310 cfu/ml) in a practise with 3 dental units we implemented the present study to evaluate the efficacy of the PotoClean(®) technology, based on anodic oxidation. METHOD The efficacy of a reg...