Silver Provides Superior Sterilization
Joseph A. Favia, DDS, on Sterisil’s dental unit waterline maintenance solutions, including the Sterisil® Cartridge
Just a couple of years ago, I was not aware that dental unit waterline testing had to be done, and I do not think I was alone in that. Many dentists are not familiar with the testing and sterilization of waterlines. Fortunately, I learned about Sterisil from a former colleague and decided to look into its dental unit waterline compliance solutions.
Sterisil's product line includes EPA-registered dental waterline treatment solutions such as antimicrobial bottles and a variety of systems that produce distilled-quality water on demand. It also offers testing products and shock tablets so that the dental office can stay in regulatory compliance.
For our office's dental unit waterline treatment, we chose the direct-feed Sterisil® Inline Cartridge. The cartridge delivers purified and treated water to the dental chairs without the use of a bottle. Ours was installed inside the junction box on the wall in our maintenance room. We do not even need to mention the cartridge to the patients. Our job is to make sure that they are protected.
The Sterisil Cartridge removes source water contaminants, prevents hard water deposits within the dental unit, and provides continuous treatment for dental unit waterlines connected to municipal water.
In addition to the Sterisil Inline Cartridge that is designed to be installed inside the junction box of a dental unit, the cartridges are also available in the Sterisil Valved Cartridge application, which is designed to be installed in a cabinet. In both applications, cartridges use silver ion technology, not iodine, chloride, or oxidizers, so they are safe for patients, clinicians, and dental equipment. Once installed on the dental unit, the cartridge continuously dispenses a low concentration of silver ions, keeping bacteria in check. Furthermore, the silver ion technology is 20 times more effective than other water treatment products on the market.
In fact, Sterisil makes the only waterline treatment cartridges that are EPA-registered and guaranteed to produce dental water with less than or equal to 10 CFU/mL HPC bacteria.
With built-in shock and maintenance treatments, the Sterisil Cartridge can last up to 1 year, depending on municipal water quality and the volume of water used. Clinicians need only monitor the total dissolved solids (TDS) level of the outlet water with a meter, and Sterisil provides a cartridge log sheet to make tracking easy.
From the moment we first added it into our practice, the Sterisil Cartridge has been extremely low maintenance, which is what I love about it. Sterisil provides a short video and step-by-step instructions, which make installation of the cartridge simple, and the quick disconnect kit makes replacement of the cartridge a snap.
The Sterisil Cartridge is not something the clinician has to think about every day, but it provides such peace of mind knowing that the dental unit waterlines are clean when treating patients. And that is what matters.
Key Takeaways
1. Sterisil Cartridges are on-demand, compliant, direct-feed dental unit waterline treatment products.
2.The silver-ion technology is 20 times more effective than similar products.
3.The cartridges do not use iodine, chlorine, or oxidizers, and they do not adversely affect composite bond strength.
4. Several cartridge sizes are available to optimize capacity and replacement time.
Joseph A. Favia, DDS
General Practice Owner
Arlington Heights, Illinois
Manufacturer Information
Sterisil
solmetex.com
877-207-1551
