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J Clin Microbiol. 1992 February; 30(2): 401-406

Cross-infection risks associated with current procedures for using high-speed dental handpieces.

Faculty of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602.

ABSTRACT

When a dye solution used to simulate patient material was either injected into high-speed dental handpiece (drill) waterlines or applied to the equipment externally, internal air turbine chambers became contaminated. These chambers served as a reservoir of the material, which was slowly dislodged by air expelled during subsequent handpiece operation and which was diluted by water spray used for cooling the drilling surface. Considering the fact that patient materials could reside in internal parts of the equipment that are not usually disinfected and that the material may be subsequently sprayed into cuts and abrasions in the oral cavity, the common approach to reprocessing handpieces (external wiping in combination with flushing) may pose unacceptably high risks to those individuals treated soon after infected patients. Therefore, unless reliable data on cross-infection frequencies are obtained and prove it unnecessary, heat-treating high-speed handpieces between each patient should be considered an essential component of standard procedures whenever universal precautions are practiced in dentistry.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Herd, S., Chin, J., Palenik, C. J., Ofner, S. (2007). The in vivo contamination of air-driven low-speed handpieces with prophylaxis angles. Journal of the American Dental Association 138: 1360-1365 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Al-Omari, M. A., Al-Dwairi, Z. N. (2005). Compliance with Infection Control Programs in Private Dental Clinics in Jordan. J Dent Educ 69: 693-698 [Abstract] [Full Text]