An investigation of the effect of repeated autoclaving on the speed of some dental turbines in general dental practice

Objective: To determine if five types of turbine handpiece could withstand autoclaving in dental practice. Method: Five makes of handpieces were used sequentially by four NHS dental practices in the UK. The practitioners oiled and autoclaved the handpieces after every patient use according to the manufacturerʹs instructions. The number of times the turbine was used and for what procedure was noted. The turbine use was discontinued when the practitioner perceived a significant fall in handpiece performance and the output speed measured. Results: Only one handpiece withstood one year of use in practice with a 1.8% drop in output speed. The other four handpieces had drops in output speeds of 23.5–63.6%. Conclusions: The results of this survey confirm that some handpieces do not withstand autoclaving. It is also suggested that the tests used in this investigation represent a good assessment of whether a handpiece can withstand autoclaving. It would be useful if data comparable to that described in this paper were available for all handpieces.