EFFECTIVE ROOM TEMPERATURE DENTAL HANDPIECE STERILIZER

描述(由申请人提供)：项目摘要/摘要：我们建议研究和开发一种新的、可靠的、负担得起的技术，用于在室温下对牙科手机进行有效的灭菌。美国食品和药物管理局(FDA)建议，在患者之间对这些精密器械进行热消毒，以降低疾病传播的风险。虽然高压灭菌是这些方法中最通用的，但许多材料和仪器在灭菌所需的温度和时间下暴露在湿热中时，会受到不可逆转的破坏。经过几次消毒循环后，湿热会缩短大多数牙科工具的使用寿命。湿热灭菌会迅速腐蚀金属仪器，使刀片变钝。该技术利用由标准微波炉磁控管供电的非热等离子体源生产的无腐蚀性气体灭菌剂来对各种材料和表面进行灭菌。在非热等离子体源中产生的含有自由基的空气/气流甚至能够穿透并有效地消毒手机内通道等仪器。建议的灭菌技术是安全的，不需要化学品，操作简单，免维护。由于在低湿度、低温和低能源需求下运行，它的简单性和可负担性使其非常适合于开发用于许多牙科办公室的灭菌设备。在初步试验中，脉冲微波低温等离子体(PMNP)系统产生的含有自由基的气流有效地灭活了储存在培养皿上的高浓度微生物(107/ml)，并在灭菌过程温度保持在~30oC的情况下，杀灭了嵌入在小纸盘中的106个孢子。在该计划的第一阶段，将评估初步的材料兼容性，并将验证包括牙科手机内通道在内的牙科可重复使用器械的灭菌效果测试。项目简介：以尽可能低的成本提供高质量的护理创造了开发新的廉价绝育技术的必要性。牙科手机(DHS)的消毒是目前牙科保健中的重要问题之一，因为这些精密仪器，每台成本约为800.00美元，需要在患者之间进行消毒。建议开发的有效的室温灭菌技术为高压灭菌提供了一种廉价的替代方案。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Project Summary/Abstract: We propose to research and develop a novel, reliable, and affordable technology for effective sterilization of dental handpieces at room temperature. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommends that these delicate instruments be heat-sterilized between patients to reduce the risk of disease transmission. While autoclaving is the most versatile of these methods, many materials and instruments suffer irreversible damage when exposed to moist heat at the temperatures and for the times required for sterilization. After several sterilization cycles, moist heat shortens the useful life of most dental tools. Moist heat sterilization rapidly corrodes metal instruments and dulls blades. The technology utilizes a non-corrosive gas sterilant produced in a non-thermal plasma source powered by a standard microwave oven magnetron to sterilize a wide range of materials and surfaces. The air/gas stream containing free radicals produced in the non- thermal plasma source will even be able to penetrate and efficiently sterilize instruments such as handpiece inner channels. The proposed sterilization technology is safe, will not require chemicals, and will be simple in operation and maintenance free. Its simplicity and affordability resulting from operating at low-moisture, low-temperature and with low energy requirements make it very suitable for developing a sterilization device for use in many dental offices. During preliminary tests, an air stream containing free radicals produced in the Pulsed Microwave Non-thermal Plasma (PMNP) system effectively inactivated 100% of highly concentrated microorganisms (107/ml) deposited on a Petri dish and killed 106 spores imbedded in a small paper disk with the temperature of the sterilization process maintained at~30oC. During Phase I of the program, preliminary material compatibility will be assessed and tests of sterilizing efficacy of dental reusable instruments including dental handpiece inner channels will be validated. Project Narrative: High quality care at lowest possible cost creates a necessity of development of new cheap sterilization technologies. Sterilization of Dental Handpieces (DHs) is currently 1 of the important issues in dental care, since these precision instruments, costing about $800.00 each, need to be sterilized between patients. The proposed development of the effective, room temperature sterilization technology offers a cheap alternative to autoclaving.