Cleaning and reprocessing of your surgical handpieces

The first part of our series about tips for a long service life of your KaVo instruments focused the chucking system. In this post it is all about your surgical handpieces, which need to be subjected to special treatment. Surgical instruments are exposed to extreme loads. For example, the ball bearings rotate during the preparation of tooth as fast as 20,000 mph. These performance obviously requires optimal cleanness and optimal lubrication with an oil of the highest level of quality.

 

Surgical handpieces

For a prolonging service life of your surgical instruments, clean these immediately under running lukewarm water to remove all external soiling after each treatment. If the handpiece can be taken apart, take it apart and clean the insides also under running lukewarm water. Furthermore, make sure that no residual saline solution is present in your dental instrument before any sterilization. This can cause malfunctions of your handpiece. Improper cleaning of coagulated blood or crystallisation of saline solutions can lead to corrosion.

Ball bearings

A particular attention to the ball bearings of your dental instruments is also necessary. Thereby it is important to lubricate the ball bearings because insufficient lubrication causes signs of excessive wear and tear possibly leading to defects. Even missing lubrication once, in particular after internal cleaning, can lead to early damage to the ball bearing.

 

Signs indicative of defective ball bearings include:

• Loud running noise
• Uneven run
• Strong increase in temperature
• Handpiece jams completely
   

Reprocessing of your dental handpieces

The proper disinfection plays an important role for the reprocessing of your KaVo instruments. Please never immerse your dental instrument in a disinfection or ultrasonic bath. This may destroy the ball bearings and also other technical defects on the handpiece may occur. Moreover, please never use chloride-containing disinfectants. Rather use agents released by the manufacturer exclusively. Unsuitable disinfectants can attack the surface of your handpiece which can lead to corrosion.

The proper disinfection

KaVo recommends a wipe disinfection for your dental instruments. You should abstain from a spray disinfection because too much disinfectant is sprayed onto the handpiece which can result in malfunctions. If the disinfectant flows into the handpiece or into the motor or turbine coupling, defects on the coupling may occur. Another possibility to disinfect your dental instruments is the thermodisinfection. Thereby only the chemicals recommended by the manufacturer of the device are allowed to use. To ensure a clean disinfection, replace the water filters of the washer disinfector regularly as the machine would otherwise rinse with water containing particles. Check your handpieces after the thermodesinfection. They must be dry when you take them out of the washer disinfector. If necessary, dry them subsequently, otherwise corrosion may occur.
 

Damage from dropping

Check your dental instrument by eye for any changes during the reprocessing process in order to protect both the handpiece and the patient. Therefore look after damage and deformation. Furthermore, perform functional tests and look if your dental instrument reveals excessive running noise and/or excessive heating. If you are not sure about damage from dropping a handpiece, please contact your KaVo Service Centre to prevent possible secondary damage.

For preventing damages from dropping, the handpiece must be audibly snapped into the motor or turbine coupling. If it fails to snap-in, it may drop to the floor and is damaged.

Please never attach or take of your handpiece while the foot control is being pressed.

 

Here you can find all tips for a longer service life of your KaVo instruments!