Dental practitioners have to make sur all their instruments are properly sterilized for the protection of their patients. It is quite common for dentists to have practices in their own home, however, which means they may not be able to access saturated steam or autoclave machines.

Luckily, however, they have other options available to them, using affordable chemicals like Cidex OPA in equipment that is suitable for home use. This is an excellent process that is also economically viable for those who want to make sure that their patients are safe at all times. 

Cidex OPA for Effective and Affordable Sterilization

The information below has been designed to help you sterilize your equipment properly in an affordable way. To prepare yourself for sterilization, however, you must protect yourself as well.

It is strongly recommended that you wear your lab coat, goggles, and protective gloves, similar to those supplied by a firm like Unigloves. This will make sure that you don’t come in direct contact with contaminated instruments and materials yourself. 

Once you have prepared yourself, you need to set up your workstation. You need to use glass baking trays and your assorted disinfectants, including Cidex OPA. You should have a number of different washing stations present to use for the sterilization of different instruments. Your first tray should be for washing. Fill it with hot water and a suitable detergent. Once you have dipped your instruments in that, you need to use a nylon brush to scrub every part of the instrument, paying particular attention to the hard to reach areas.

Net, you need to place your instrument in the second dish, which should be filled with hot water. Add around five to ten iodine tincture solution drops, and scrub the instruments again, in the same way as you did after the first bath. You then transfer your tools to the third dish, which is the one that contains the Cidex OPA. You must make sure that you fully follow the instructions provided with your cleaning solution, because they often have to be diluted to specific levels depending on the type of instrument, and the type of material that the instrument is made out of. You should submerge the instrument in that liquid, and leave it in place for at least half an hour.

After half an hour, remove the instrument and rinse then under a cold tap, after which you put them in a pressure cooker. This must be filled with enough water to last for at least one hour in the pressure cooker. This will virtually repeat the actions of an autoclave. Do make sure you properly use the pressure cooker, particularly when opening the pressure cooker and letting the steam come out. You then need to use tongs to remove the instruments and store them in a sterile environment. If you don’t do this, the instruments will instantly become contaminated once again.

While this method works, and works well, it is easy to make a mistake and leave instruments slightly contaminated. As such, the better option, if you cannot afford an autoclave, is to have a professional company clean your instruments for you.