Study on measurement of infectious environmental contamination of dental office-Hygienic management with the use of Adenosine Tri-Phosphate as a contamination index-

1998 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 09672122
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: 矯正・小児・社会系歯学
• Research Institution: NIHON UNIVERSITY
• Principal Investigator: KASAMO Yukitsugu NIHON UNIVERSITY,SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY,LECTURER, 歯学部, 講師 (20120404)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KATAYAMA Ichiro NIHON UNIVERSITY,SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY,LECTURER, 歯学部, 講師 (70130466) ; OHTA Hajime NIHON UNIVERSITY,SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY,LECTURER, 歯学部, 講師 (50059812) ; IKETANI Masahiro NIHON UNIVERSITY,SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY,LECTURER, 歯学部, 講師 (40059275) ; MASUTANI Shigeyuki NIHON UNIVERSITY,SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY,LECTURER, 歯学部, 講師 (40157201)
• Project Period (FY): 1997 – 1998
• Keywords: dental office / infectious environmental contamination / Adenosine Tri-Phosphate / contamination index / hygienic management (hygienics) / swab-rinse method / luciferin-luciferase / luminescence

Research Abstract

"Swab-rinse method" has been established with the use of ATP to measure the contamination of dental office environment. As a contamination index, ATP measurement was taken by luminescence with a luminometer (lumitester K-210) on the solution made of lOOmul of specimen liquid and lOOmul of ATP extract reagent with addition of ATP luminescent reagent (luciferin - luciferase) Areas measured were tip and handle portions of instruments and equipment, the face and chest surface of the operator, assistant and patient, and left and right forearms of the operator and assistant.
The lower the ATP concentration ( = the degree of pollution) is, the lower the luminescent measurement value (RLU) is. The degree of contamination was measured in subject areas for inspection with a reference value of sterilized distilled water (less than 10) . As a result, values over 10^4 were recorded with the head of high-speed handpiece, HVE tip and scaler. Some of the faces of the operators and patients exceeded l0^3. Some cases showed over 10^2 in the forearms of the operator and assistant. In the food manufacturing and processing industry, " Cleanliness of cutting board" is reportedly the standard to determine the safety, which is less than 10^2, however, there is little chance for microbes to be detected at the luminescent level of less than 10^2. Cutting dust produced in the dental practice, on the other hand, contains various kinds and amounts of bacteria and viruses in blood and saliva from the mouths of patients, and it is quite difficult to identify these microbes by culturing. Therefore, it is considered to be necessary to tighten the safety standard to prevent from occurrence of secondary infection.