Health Risk Of Dental Unit Waterline System To Dental Patients ' An Issue Of Concern

ABSTRACT

Water delivered through dental unit waterline system(DUWS) is often reported contaminated with microbesdislodged from biofilm that forms within the tubingof a dental chair unit (DCU). ADM The study aimedat evaluating the sanitary level of DCU water froma teaching dental clinic. Materials The presence ofpathogenic bacteria which include total coliforms, faecalcoliforms, E. coli, faecal streptococci and P. aeruginosawere determined using conventional microbiologicalmethods while PCR technique was used to identify othermicrobial contaminants. Result: pH of DCU water wasfound slightly acidic at pH 5.4-5.5 and the temperaturewas 23°C. Pathogenic contaminants were absent butthe DCU water was highly loaded with Sphingomonasrhizogenes (17.9%), Sphingomonas dokdonesis(79.5%), Sphingomonas mucosissima (1.1%) andMethylobacterium radiotolerans (1.5%). The high load ofmicrobes that exceeded 200 cfu/ml was of great concernas it failed to meet recommendation set by the AmericanDental Association