One of the most important things that a dentist needs to consider while running a practice, is the timely and thorough sterilization of the dental instruments. You don’t want your patients to wait while your assistant is just putting them into the autoclave! While you can still manage to sterilize all your dental instruments by using the conventional method, the instruments can however take up a lot of space, and hence sterilization needs to be performed in steps. What if you could avoid this situation? Believe me, it’s possible! How? By using dental sterilization cassettes! Let’s talk some more about them!
What are Sterilization Cassettes?
Consider sterilization cassettes are small-sized racks that allow various dental instruments to be stacked so that they don’t take up much space, while at the same time, the cassettes allow free air flow and complete sterilization. All you need to do, is to clean your instruments by washing them, and then arranging them into specifically designed slots within the cassettes. That’s it! Now you place the cassette into the autoclave, and you’re good to go!
Which Cassette to be Used for Which Type of Instruments?
Now that you know what a sterilization cassette is, the next question that would come to your mind will be “how do I know which sterilization cassette to choose for a specific dental instrument, say, the Periosteal elevator?” Let me help you with that!
At Dentalytec, we offer sterilization cassettes in different shapes and sizes so that they fit in all types and dimensions of dental instruments. Let’s take a look!
Long Handle Instruments – perhaps the instruments that take up the most space are the ones that have a long handle, such as the mirror, periodontal probe, and different types of elevators. For sterilization of these types of instruments, you should choose a cassette that is sufficiently long. Also, the width of the cassette should be enough to accommodate at least 5 hand-held instruments simultaneously. At Dentalytec, we offer the Classic sterilization cassette models and clip trays. You can use them for sterilization of instruments that are used for performing the following dental operations:
· Routine oral diagnostic instruments – dental mirror, diagnostic probe, and tweezers
· Implant surgery – scalpel, elevators, distractors, forceps
· Amalgam fillings – amalgam gun, condensers, carvers, burnishers.
· Periodontal diagnosis and treatment – different types of periodontal probes and surgical instruments.
The classic sterilization cassettes and tray clips are offered in the following models:
· Classic S, M and L– offered in the small, medium and large sizes. These offer secure ergonomic packaging of up to 20 long and bulky dental instruments (for the L model) and 10 dental instruments (for the M and S models).
The Classic L would be ideal for Wisdom tooth surgery which would typically include an instrument kit containing blade holder, Periosteal elevator, forceps. needle holder, retractor, mirror & probe. Can also be used in conjunction with implant procedures that would conventionally need the aforementioned instruments in the Wisdom toot surgery but also with burs.
All M (for medium) sized cassettes (which include the Classic range pictured below or the Vision+, Ultralite and Slim in following sections) would be a good size fit for a minor surgery Kit (with instrument kit similar to the Wisdom tooth extraction above), suturing kits (typically Tweezers, needle holder, and scissors), or the very common filling kit (amalgam pluggers, plastic intrument, dental burnisher, excavator, carver, tweezers, mirror & probe).
· Vision+ S & Vision+ M – offered in two sizes. The Vision cassettes contain a greater number of pores, which ensures better sterilization of dental instruments. Vision+ S can incorporate 5 instruments, while the Vision+ M can be used to sterilize up to 10 dental instruments at a time.
· Ultra-lite S&M – If you are tight for space and want to work with less bulky and lighter cassettes, the Ultra-lite is for you! While this cassette only weighs 280g, the smaller one accommodates 5 while the larger one can fit 10 instruments. Another good thing about these cassettes is that they contain numerous small and equally sized pores that allow efficient sterilization, while at the same time protecting fragile instrument tips.
· Slim S & Slim M – offered in two sizes. The Slim cassettes are designed for the sterilization of finer dental instruments. These cassettes have been specifically designed to protect the tips of fragile dental instruments.
· Cassette Clip M – the cassette clip contains a built-in clip that firmly holds dental instruments. These cassettes can be used for the sterilization of bulkier and larger dental instruments, such as those used during implant or maxillofacial surgery.
· Clip-tray S & Clip-tray M – These trays do not contain a lid. Rather, they have clips that are used for securing instruments. Up to 11 instruments can be sterilized at a time in the Clip-tray M.
From feedback and interviews we gave to some dentists, it resulted that most of them like using the Clip tray M with a scaling kit (sickle, Jacquette Hoes, Mirror, Probe and scaler tip)
Sterilization of Smaller and Fragile Instruments:
At Dentalytec, we have designed the mini and micro cassettes that have been customized for the sterilization of smaller and fragile instruments. An excellent feature about these cassettes is that they can be placed into larger trays, thereby taking up lesser space and ensuring improved efficiency of the sterilization procedures. Mini and micro cassettes can be used for performing the following dental operations:
· Periodontal Procedures – different tips of the ultrasonic scalers can be easily placed into these trays for sterilization.
· Endodontic Procedures – instrument tips that are used with various powered endodontic instruments can also sterilized with the mini and micro sterilization cassettes.
· Restorative Procedures – various burs that are used for teeth preparation for filling, or fabrication of indirect restorations like crowns, brides, veneers, inlays and onlays can also be conveniently sterilized with the mini and micro cassettes. They can also be used to hold dental dam clamps and implantology accessories during sterilization.
The following models of mini and micro cassettes are offered by Dentalytec:
· Mini Cassette – ideal for the sterilization of small rotary instrument tips like burs, implantology accessories, and scaling tips. These instruments fit perfectly into various plug-ins that are offered by Dentalytec in various shapes and sizes.
· Micro Cassettes XS, S and M – these cassettes are perfect for sterilization of fragile instruments like scaling tips, endodontic instruments, and burs. These cassettes contain micro-slots that facilitate drying after sterilization.
Plug-ins Offered by Dentalytec
We offer various plug-ins for the safe and secure placement of smaller instruments. The height of these plug-ins can be adjusted for the protection of the instrument tips, or to place the burs at an angle. In addition, we also offer Endo-plugs that have been specifically designed for the sterilization of endodontic instruments. The Endo-plugs contain silicone indicators that provide information regarding the estimated life of the endodontic files.
Bur Guards
Dentalytec offers customized Bur guards, that securely keep the burs in place while they are being sterilized. In this way, the working ends of the burs are not damaged, and their clinical service life is enhanced. The Bur guards can be used to hold right-angled or latch-styled shanks.
We can safely say that whichever type of dental instrument you are using at your practice, we have a precisely shape and sized sterilization cassette available for you! So, what is stopping you from increasing the efficiency of your dental practice? Say goodbye to the conventional time-consuming sterilization methods and say hello to easy, convenient, and time-efficient sterilization with dental cassettes offered by Dentalytec.