19/10/2025
DO WE EVEN NEED INDICATORS TO VALIDATE SOLID INSTRUMENTS? PRODUCT FAMILIES -Part Four
As we explained, there are 4 critical parameters required to achieve sterilisation.
Temperature
Time
Steam Pressure
Air Removal
If one of these are missing, then sterility assurance simply cannot be achieved.
The chart printout is validated by the use of the internal sensors located inside the steriliser. However, these sensors are unable to read inside lumens. Therefore, they are unable to validate your sterility processes inside handpieces.
The reason for this is their incapability to detect air down to 1ml. The lowest reading they can provide is around 150ml air. Therefore, if your chamber has 149ml of air remaining inside the chamber, the steriliser will pass the load, as it has no clue how to detect the remaining 149ml of air. This is known as "porous level monitoring".
However, 149ml of air is enough to validate solid instruments such as scrapers, scalers, perio probes, scissors etc.
It does this by utilising its parameters listed above to a universal (porous) level. If you look at the chart printout (typically found in your PC memory sent via your steriliser each cycle), you will see all of the 4 critically listed parameters. Therefore, if you were to measure the chart printout up against the class 6 indicators, recommended by almost everyone (most useless indicator ever invented), then you would clearly see that the chart printout itself provides you with more information than every class indicator apart from class 2.
Therefore WHY would we be wasting time and money and effort on classes: 1,3,4,5,6 indicators?
The proof of this is right inside the pudding. Simple ask those who are pushing these class indicators into your practice to provide assurances in writing that "We guarantee that no patient will contract any cross contamination infection whilst using these indicators". Why not right? But of course you will never get this email. Because its all talk and zero liability.
The point of this is that we are simply on our own. Therefore we need something MORE than just "trust us, we know what we are talking about'.
The chart printout results are there to demonstrate all 4 parameters have been met.
We will discuss how the chart printout completely eliminates the use of biological testing in your clinics.
Continues in Part Five.....
Protect Your Practice!