Cold Chemical Sterilization: Better Left out in the Cold
Everleigh Malley
You First Services, Inc.
GloTran® for Dentists: A Better Way to Disinfect
Picture your patient sitting in your chair dreading their teeth cleaning. Dentist visits can provoke a lot of anxiety for patients – not only is it inherently uncomfortable, but they hate it when you ask how their day is going when you have sharp metal tools in their mouth. Unlike yourself, your patient probably isn’t even thinking about whether your tools have been adequately disinfected. Having a GloTran automated disinfecting device in your dental office will let you breathe a sigh of relief … while you politely remind your patient that they need to floss more.
The Problem with Cold Chemical Sterilization
Cold chemical sterilization is the process by which semi-critical and heat sensitive tools are submerged in liquid chemicals for sterilization. This form of sterilization is not as effective as autoclaving. In fact, cold chemical sterilization’s drawbacks are so significant that even the Center for Disease Control (CDC) advises limited use of it.
The most common chemical use in this process is Glutaraldehyde. Known for the toxic fumes it produces, Glutaraldehyde is one of the leading causes of occupational asthma. It can be corrosive to exposed skin and requires extensive ventilation and PPE just to submerge the tools in the solution. Tools are required to sit for 6 – 10 hours, until they’re completely sterilized. As if this wasn’t inconvenient enough, if you add another instrument to the mix, you must reset that time back to zero. With no way to accurately monitor time or verify the sterility of the instruments, cold chemical sterilization is fairly unreliable.
Dental Tools, Disinfection, & Disease Transmission
Infection control in dental offices is important for many good reasons. Communities need to be kept safe from outbreaks, patients and staff need to be kept healthy so that your workspaces can remain open, and you want to preserve your reputation as being a clean and disease-free facility.
Disease transmission from dirty dental tools is not unheard of, and in some cases these diseases can be life-altering. Herpes, HIV, hepatitis, staph infections, and strep throat are just some of the possible ailments one can be stricken with following a simple dentist’s visit. Of course, dental practices have robust sanitation protocols in place to prevent this from happening. When it comes to cold chemical sterilization, however, sterility is not guaranteed.
But what if there were a fast acting, non-toxic disinfection solution that overcomes the drawbacks of cold chemical sterilization?
We’ve all heard of hydrogen peroxide. If you’ve used it for small cuts for its antimicrobial properties, (or heaven forbid, as a DIY hair dye) it’s a safe and familiar household item. There are different uses and different concentrations for hydrogen peroxide. 35% food grade hydrogen peroxide is typically low concentration by volume and does not contain any added chemicals, stabilizers, and/or toxins. It is 11 times stronger than the standard hydrogen peroxide you’d find at your local pharmacy. Its pros include being safe on delicate materials yet tough on germs.
GloTran: The Future of Automated
Disinfection is All A-Glo
GloTran’s automated disinfection overcomes the drawbacks of cold chemical sterilization in a number of ways. By using food grade vaporized hydrogen peroxide and radiofrequency electrical energy to disinfect every nook and cranny of instruments in a typical dental setting, GloTran provides uniform disinfection. Unlike traditional disinfection methods, GloTran saves time and labor with a 3:1 efficiency ratio and 20-minute low-temperature processing time.
While we can’t guarantee that GloTran will make your patient floss more, we can tell you that you’ll never have to worry about putting your dental practice at risk when you invest in GloTran technology.
Curious to know more about GloTran’s plasma disinfection technology?
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