Health Risk Of Dental Unit Waterline System To Dental Patients ' An Issue Of Concern
- Author:
C.S. CHUA
1
;
A.R. FATHILAH
;
W.H. HIMRATUL-AZNITA
Author Information
1. Department of Oral Biology and Biomedical Sciences Faculty of Dentistry University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
- Publication Type:original article
- Keywords:
Biofilm;
Dental chair unit;
Infection control;
Microbial load
- From:
Annals of Dentistry
2013;20(1):20-26
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Water delivered through dental unit waterline system(DUWS) is often reported contaminated with microbesdislodged from biofilm that forms within the tubingof a dental chair unit (DCU). ADM: The study aimedat evaluating the sanitary level of DCU water froma teaching dental clinic. Materials: The presence ofpathogenic bacteria which include total coliforms, faecalcoliforms, E. coli, faecal streptococci and P. aeruginosawere determined using conventional microbiologicalmethods while PCR technique was used to identify othermicrobial contaminants. Result: pH of DCU water wasfound slightly acidic at pH 5.4-5.5 and the temperaturewas 23°C. Pathogenic contaminants were absent butthe DCU water was highly loaded with Sphingomonasrhizogenes (17.9%), Sphingomonas dokdonesis(79.5%), Sphingomonas mucosissima (1.1%) andMethylobacterium radiotolerans (1.5%). The high load ofmicrobes that exceeded 200 cfu/ml was of great concernas it failed to meet recommendation set by the AmericanDental Association
