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by Dr Jason Pang, Cosmic Smile Dental, Neutral Bay, NSW
Ozone is nature’s bleach and a natural disinfectant. It kills bacteria, fungi, viruses and it does it very quickly. This unit is mounted on the wall in our sterile area and produces ozonated water on demand.
What’s good about it
Dental water lines can contain a huge amount of bacteria if there are no flush and clean protocols in place. This bacteria doesn’t affect most people but if you are dealing with immuno-compromised individuals, it can be dangerous. We decided to see what difference ozonated water makes.
After a weekend, we tested the water in our lines on a Monday morning. The lines were full of bacteria and there was obviously room for improvement. When we flushed the lines with ozonated water and used ozonated water throughout the day, the test showed that no bacteria was present.
We also use the ozonated water in a number of other ways. Every patient has a preoperative mouth rinse of ozonated water. For perio patients, we use ozonated water in conjunction with deep ultrasonic scaling. This helps activate the ozone and causes a bacterial killing process. We use it for irrigating endodontic procedures and we flush any perio pockets with the water. We also used it to clean all instruments and wipe down chairs and surfaces.
On top of this, there was an unexpected side effect to using ozonated water. Our dental suite is positioned in a building that doesn’t have underfloor sewage but instead uses a series of pumps. There was one drain in the lab that always smelled bad. The use of ozonated water caused that smell to completely disappear.
What’s not so good
The unit is expensive to purchase. There can also be extra costs depending on the set-up of the surgery and whether the unit is plumbed into the water lines of the dental chair.
Where did you get it
