When it comes to dental equipment, preventative maintenance is a must. Equipment must be properly cared for to keep instruments working at peak performance for as long as possible, but also you—as the health care provider—and your patient must be kept safe from infection. Through preventative maintenance tasks daily, weekly, monthly and annually, your dental practice lessens the chances of unexpected equipment failures resulting in downtime, as well as more importantly, safety concerns.
As you know, managing a dental office and the necessary dental equipment maintenance tasks is often overwhelming. Our goal here is to simplify things in a short three-part blog series covering dental equipment preventative maintenance specific to sterilization, operatory, medical gas and IT tasks.
Image by Hu-Friedy®
Hu-Friedy’s AdvantaClear Surface Disinfectant is a convenient, ready-to-use, intermediate level disinfectant designed to clean and disinfect dental surfaces.
Operatory Preventative Maintenance
Does your process have a well-outlined document outlining all maintenance tasks in the operatory? With patients coming and going and the business of the day, it is important that these are clearly visible and imperative they are performed well to minimize contamination and infection and to keep equipment running at peak performance. Review these tasks with your team often, and make sure to revise them as necessary. In doing so, you will find they become second nature.
DAILY TASKS:
Morning
- Flush waterlines on delivery units with preferred treatment solution for a minimum of two minutes
Perform Between Each Patient
- Flush waterlines on delivery units for a minimum of 30 seconds
- Sterilize and lubricate handpieces and instruments
- Disinfect surfaces with preferred disinfectant per instructions (Do not spray directly on equipment)
End of Day
- Remove and empty water bottles, leave upside down to dry overnight
- Clean and disinfect all contaminated surfaces and equipment
- Properly disconnect, charge, & store small equipment items, ensure x-ray equipment and servers are securely locked away from unauthorized access
WEEKLY TASKS:
- Empty solids collectors in operatories
- Test waterlines and treat, if applicable
- Remove handpieces and couplers from tubings, lubricate threads
- Inspect o-rings on couplers and electric motors
- Clean and inspect operatory light shields
- Replace gauze in oil collector on delivery systems
- Wipe surfaces with mild soapy solution to remove surface disinfectant residue
- Run full virus scan on workstations
- Run and apply Windows updates, if applicable
- Shutdown or restart workstations
MONTHLY TASKS:
- Disassemble, clean and lubricate suction components (HVE, SE, Canister)*
- Perform shock treatment on waterlines (if no treatment systems in use)*
- Inspect intraoral x-ray unit for proper movement and inspect cone integrity*
- Check all units, lights, and monitor mounts for drifting*
- Inspect medical gas rubber goods for damages and ensure proper function
ANNUAL TASKS:
- Lubricate pivot point on chairs and stools
- Check handpiece and water bottle pressures
- Replace waterline filters, if applicable
- Inspect handpiece and suction line tubings, replace as necessary
- Inspect Air/Water syringe o-rings, replace as necessary
- Perform x-ray calibrations as required by state regulations*
- Perform nitrous oxide calibration as required by state regulations*
*May require qualified service technician
We Can Help!
Even with preventative maintenance, dental equipment and technology malfunctions. And, it usually happens at the most inconvenient time. Just a few hours of lost productivity can cost you thousands in lost production.
Goetze Dental’s Service Team is committed to providing the solutions you need to keep your equipment & technology functioning. Call 800-692-0804 and choose option 5 to schedule an appointment. Or click here to request service call online.