Autoclaves use steam heat to kill any microbial life that may be present on a contaminated load. A load — also known as goods — is considered sterile once it has undergone a full sterilization cycle. Once a load is sterile, it can be used without fear of introducing foreign microorganisms into a sensitive environment, such as a laboratory, hospital operating room, food production facility, and so on. Different types of goods must be sterilized for different lengths of time and at different temperatures. Some autoclaves include additional features, such as vacuum functions, special cycles, and integral electric boilers.

What is Dental Autoclave?

A dental autoclave, also known as a steam sterilizer, is the machine that is used to properly sanitize dental equipment after its use. The autoclave is the machine that harnesses the power of high temperature and high-pressure steam in order to sterilize germs on dental equipment, such as forceps, intended for reuse, thus ensuring its safety for the next patient.

It utilizes high-pressure temperatures and steam to combat debris and bacteria. It meets the CDC requirements for proper sterilization and allows dentist offices to reuse a variety of their instruments and tools.

History of the Autoclave

Charles Chamberland invented the autoclave in 1879, but the concept of using steam in an enclosed space in order to prevent sickness has existed in some form or other since 1679.

The principles and methods for sterilization have remained largely unchanged for the past 150 years. In fact, most major advancements in autoclave technology since 1879 have revolved around sterilization process monitoring, autoclave safety, and sterilization cycle creation rather than alterations to the sterilization process.

Most people have a working understanding that sterile goods are free of microorganisms and are, therefore, safe to use in medical, food production, research or other settings in which the presence of germs would be a significant safety hazard or detriment.

Exactly how many microorganisms will be left alive over time at a fixed temperature is expressed as a probabilistic logarithmic curve — a function that approaches but never reaches zero.

As the function approaches zero, one would typically choose a level of confidence — called the Sterility Assurance Level (SAL) — for the odds that the last microorganism present will survive.  Contrary to popular belief, sterilization is not binary where something is either sterile or non-sterile. Sterilization is a statistical event characterized by this confidence factor (SAL) . The general standard for SAL is 10-6, or a one-in-a-million chance of a single viable microorganism surviving. How long sterilization takes depends on the set temperature and SAL level desired; higher temperatures will achieve sterility faster.

In order to kill a cell with heat, its temperature must be raised to a degree at which the proteins in the cell wall break down and coagulate. Steam is a very efficient medium for heat transference, which makes it an excellent way to destroy microbes. Air, on the other hand, is a very inefficient way to transfer heat/energy because of a concept known as the heat of vaporization.

It requires 80 kilocalories (kcal) of heat energy to bring one liter of water to its boiling point (100˚C). It would require 540 kcal to convert that liter of water into steam, which means that steam at 100˚C contains seven times as much energy as water at 100˚C.

That energy is what makes steam so much more efficient at destroying microorganisms. When steam encounters a cooler object, it condenses into water. Then, it transfers all of the energy that was used to boil the water directly into the water. This process heats up the cells far more efficiently than air at similar temperatures. This is why we use steam to achieve sterility.

The experts proved: the most effective autoclaves for dental tools are based on steam.

Dry steam or wet steam machine  — depends on you. The wet steam autoclaves increase the duration of the process for a while. We can explain this by saying that the drying process is highly important in sterilizing and it makes possible to use the tools right after the sterilization is complete.

There is nothing difficult in using autoclaves. Generally, this device is doing all the main job by itself. But for those who face autoclave for the first time, we should talk about general aspects of utilization.

The functioning of autoclave: step by step

1. Prepare the instruments, using your device instructions or the information we wrote below.
2. Put the tools into the Dental Autoclave.
3. Close it until its process is running.
4. Wait until the equipment is sterile and dry.
5. Make sure there is no pressure in the chamber and remove the tools.
6. The instruments are ready to be re-used.

And this is how to autoclave dental instruments: you just put the instruments into the chamber and the autoclave does everything else for you.

After these simple series of maneuvers temperature-treated tools are completely safe to use, so there are no chances to get infected or for your clients to be afraid of any kind of viruses, bacteria, microbes.

Your dental equipment needs cleaning, so as the device for sterilization. It is necessary to clean the autoclave every day after using. Before cleaning, disconnect the power cord. Then mix some water with a cleanser, wet a sponge in this mixture and gently clean the inner side of the device’s door.

Once a week, again use a sponge, clean the reservoir, where water basically is in. Also, you need to use a special solution to wash out the chamber, but please, follow the directions that are given in your product instructions.

Select the right type of solution or soapy water to clean the outer side of an autoclave and dry it with a soft clean cloth.

This is it, your autoclave is clean and always ready to be used again.

Your dental autoclave will serve during the promised term if you clean it as many times as it is necessary. It requires a different degree of purification every time duration — per days, months and years of using. But as a must, make sure, that you check-up the autoclave every six months. In case if it may need the maintenance.

So, after 6 months of using an autoclave, contact a service center to prevent your device from breaking.

Let’s make some conclusions. An autoclave is a device for equipment sterilization. They are mostly used in the medical field. Making a choice to buy an autoclave, you should pay attention to the size of the device. If you have a small room, the best variant for you – is a mini-autoclave. But note, that it may not probably fit all your equipment at once. So if you have a chance to accommodate a bigger machine, do this. It will save your time in a few times.

The most important in serving autoclaves is a usual cleaning. There some rules how to clean autoclave, that prevents from malfunctioning of the machine and from its rapid breakdown.

And remember, to buy a good autoclave for your dental service – is always a worthy contribution.