A guide to handpiece care and maintenance

As an essential part of all dental surgeries, handpieces are in constant use. This means they are routinely contaminated with saliva, blood and biological residues, making cleaning and sterilising a continual task.

However, the unique design and complex structure of a handpiece makes decontamination a challenge. Most notably, the hidden internal surfaces and hollow channels (lumens), make the removal of contaminants from within handpieces, particularly difficult to achieve and specific procedures need to be followed to ensure handpieces are effectively decontaminated for the protection of patients and staff.

Effective cleaning is a fundamental part of the decontamination process and is essential to enable the subsequent disinfection and sterilisation of handpieces to be carried out reliably.