The Water Quality Investigation of the Dental Chairs in Kaohsiung City Dental Clinics

• Main Authors: Wen-Tsung Chen, 鄭文聰
• Other Authors: Tien-Yu Shieh
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2004
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/09050630354327472468

碩士 === 高雄醫學大學 === 口腔衛生科學碩士在職專班 === 92 === Background : In Taiwan when people go to a dentist, they may worry about microbiological infection, heavy metals, etc. Though they may be anxious, they do not know how to discuss their concern with the dentist. At the present time, no domestic research on the dental chairs’ water quality has been investigated. Study objective : This study investigated the dental clinics at Kaohsiung City, so as to know the water sources, indexes of microbiology and heavy metals in water, the difference between the dental chairs’ water sources and water quality, and the causes of poor water quality. Through this study, we hope to offer a safe clinic service and reference for dental equipmental maintenance, and therefore promote the quality of dental service. Methods : The dental clinics were selected, from 4 districts out of eleven districts in Kaohsiung city, according to the name list of Kaohsiung city dental association by pps methods, San-Min District, Ku-Shan District, Ling-Ya District, Chien-Jen District, . From each of the four districts, the first twenty-five listed dental clinics were the final cases for this investigation .The total number was one hundred dental clinics. We examined the dental chairs’ three way water sample and use a questionnaire about their maintenance .We utilized the descriptive, inferable analysis and multiple regression to analyze these data. Results : The water sources followed by dental chairs’ three way water mostly comes from the RO water (66%), tap water (21%), distiled water (8%)and others (5%). Index microbiology tests for Coliform Bacterium were all negative. The average bacteria of the water source were 25.0±55.1cfu/ml and of the three way water were 32.0cfu/ml. There was no significant difference between these two data. Samples from the three way water flowed for 30 seconds, the average bacteria was 13.0cfu/ml which was significantly different from the original water source data（P＜0.001）.The indoor environment falling-down total bacterial count of these four districts, Ling-Ya District dental clinics are （10.9±2.2colony/ml）significantly larger than Ku-Shan District（4.6±4.0 colony /ml） and Chien-Jen District.（4.4±3.8 colony /ml）. Moreover, the more the falling -down total bacterial counts were, the more the total bacterial count of the water resource were（r=0.212, p＜0.05）. The Heavy-Metal Chemical Tests: Cu and Zn were detectable but within the maximum allowable standard value. As, Pb, Hg, Cd were not detected at all. In general , the level of Cu and Zn metals in the water of these four districts had significant differences（p＜0.0001）.The Ku-Shan District was the most serious where Zn and Cu were detected at 76.0﹪and 56.0% respectively. According to the questionnaire about the maintenance of the water source, there was a significant relation between the amounts the bacterium and the cleaning period of the water tank. The odds ratio (OR) was 8.00(p＜0.0011) if the cleaning period of the water tank was over six months. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the amount of bacterium and the period of renewing RO filters. The OR was 7.71(p＜0.05) if the period of renewing RO filters was over six months. Conclusion: From this investigation, dental clinics that used RO water were thought to be the safest water source, but most dental clinics hardly know the appropriate maintenance of the dental chairs’ three way water and their environmental sanitation, including cleaning the water tanks and cleaning the filters and renewing the filter equipment regularly. This may result in the water source and environment sanitation much more dangerous. We suggest that the dental clinics should improve the cleaning of the water source, maintain the equipment of the three-way water, and replace the filter regularly. Especially, remember to clean the three-way water pipes before and after work every day. Every morning, let the three way water flow for at least for 30 seconds before the dental clinic serves. This can promote the safety of clinic service.