OBJECTIVEComparing the dental handpiece' s cleaning effect between manual cleaning and machine cleaning.

METHODSEighty same contaminated dental handpieces were randomly divided into experimental group and control group, each group contains 40 pieces. The experimental group was treated by full automatic washing machine, and the control group was cleaned manually. The cleaning method was conducted according to the operations process standard, then ATP bioluminescence was used to test the cleaning results.

RESULTSAverage relative light units (RLU) by ATP bioluminescence detection were as follows: Experimental group was 9, control group was 41. The two groups were less than the recommended RLU value provided by the instrument manufacturer (RLU < or = 45). There was significant difference between the two groups (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONThe cleaning quality of the experimental group was better than that of control group. It is recommended that the central sterile supply department should clean dental handpieces by machine to ensure the cleaning effect and maintain the quality.