Rotina de monitoração física, química e biológica para estufa e autoclave em consultório odontológico

Abstract

Dental instruments can be sterilized by means of autoclave (steam) or kiln (dry heat). In order to utilize these equipment, several directives established by health care governmental organizations must be followed. Since the instructions are not common for all the involved health care organizations, there are some differences considering the monitoring of these equipment. Thus, taking into account several problems found in the literature and in the practical use of the equipment, a monitoring routine covering physical, chemical and biological tests was developed in order to assure that dentists can have their equipment working properly and that they are complying with the directives of the Health Ministry. To implement the routine, 12 sterilization equipment (6 autoclaves and 6 kilns) of 7 dental offices from Curitiba city were monitorized, following the guidelines of the Health Ministry.The results obtained have shown that there were some kind of failure on all 12 tested equipment. Finally, the application of the routine showed that monitoring is critical to detect failures in the sterilization process, therefore the monitoring allows a greater control over dental instruments and reduces the risk of infections for patients and dentists.