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Decontamination procedures for tungsten carbide debonding burs: a cross-sectional survey of hospital-based orthodontic departments.

Sheriteh Z, Hassan T, Sherriff M, Cobourne M

King's College London, UK. zahrat@gmail.com

OBJECTIVE: To determine the current pattern of use and handling of tungsten carbide debonding burs (TCDBs) within UK hospital-based orthodontic departments. DESIGN: Cross-sectional survey. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Questionnaires were sent to 217 departments within the UK and an overall response rate of 93% was achieved. RESULTS: Most hospital departments (68%) currently use TCDBs designed for a slow handpiece. Just over half (55%) discard their TCDBs after single-use, but only 24% adequately decontaminate new burs prior to initial use. Almost all those that reuse TCDBs decontaminate them in a sterilizer and carry out combinatorial presterilization cleaning. The most common methods are manual cleaning followed by an ultrasonic bath (26%) or washer-disinfector (15%); or alternatively, soaking of burs followed by manual cleaning (13%). For those departments that use only a single method, manual cleaning (29%) or a washer-disinfector (10%) are most common. In terms of sterilizing TCDBs, 58% used a vacuum phase autoclave and 13% a downward displacement. CONCLUSIONS: There is wide variation in the handling of TCDBs in UK hospital-based orthodontic departments. Decontamination of new TCDBs prior to initial use is carried out by less than a third of departments. Despite their classification as reusable devices, just over half discard TCDBs after single use. However, among those that do reuse TCDBs, almost all decontaminate them correctly.

Published 31 August 2010 in J Orthod, 37(3): 174-80.
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