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Handpiece Maintenance
Check for Wear Inspect handpieces for any signs of wear or damage. Make sure burs fit properly and can’t easily be pulled out from the chuck. Check for unusual noise, either an increase in normal volume or rattle & grinding noises. Check the back cap to make sure it is secured tightly on a weekly basis. External Cleaning Wipe down the handpiece with a paper towel or gauze pad after each patient. If there is stubborn debris, you can use a soft wire brush or lightly dampen a gauze pad with rubbing alcohol and wipe off. Avoid spraying, soaking, or running your handpiece under water. Never use any disinfectants cleaners such as cavicide. They are highly corrosive and shouldn't be used on anything with metal moving parts. Internal Cleaning Any dental device that is connected to the dental office’s water system and is used intraorally should be operated for a minimum of 30 seconds after each patient to discharge water and air. Use a proxy brush to clean debris from inside the chuck. At a minimum, we recommend doing this weekly. Lubrication High Speeds: Apply a lubricant/cleaner as per the manufacturer's guidelines after every use. Use an aerosol spray for 2 seconds. Attach the handpiece to an airline, insert a bur blank/shipping pin, and run for 15 seconds. The head of the handpiece should be in a sink or wrapped into a paper towel to catch debris during this process. You can also use a lubricant/maintenance machine to complete this process. Low Speeds & Attachments: Apply lubricant after every 5 uses. Use a dropper bottle only, as most low speed motors and handpieces only need 3-5 drops and most attachments only need 1 to 3 drops. Check IFU for exact lubrication instruction. Attach to an airline, insert a bur blank/shipping pin, and run for 15 seconds. The head of the handpiece should be in a sink or wrapped into a paper towel to catch debris during this process. *We don’t recommend using maintenance machines for low speed handpieces. Excess lubricant can coagulate and collect debris over time and cause early failure. Sterilization Place handpieces in individual sterilization pouches and insert into your sterilizer. Pouches should not be stacked, overlap, touch each other, or have contact with the walls of the sterilizer. Be sure to make sure there is enough room between each pouch to allow for proper air circulation. Do not remove pouches from sterilizer until the dry cycle has finished. Do not use handpieces until they have completely cooled. Heat sterilize all reusable instruments and items used intraorally. Pneumatic dental handpieces, motors and related attachments, reusable prophylaxis angles, scaling tips and reusable air/water syringe tips require heat sterilization between patients. MTI Dental Products recommends steam autoclave sterilization of dental handpieces, motors, and attachments. Do not use chemiclave or dry heat sterilization. Nose cones, contra angles, and latch heads should be detached from motor and bagged separately for sterilization. Remove burs and scaling tips before sterilization since it may result in damage and corrosive reaction between different metallic surfaces. Do not exceed 135 °C (275 °F) Failure to allow proper drying time can lead to internal corrosion and early turbine failure. Allow items to cool before removing from sterilizer. Items should be at room temperature before patient use. Never use water or forced air to cool a handpiece, this could lead to cracking and warping of components. Gravity Type Autoclave Minimum of 15 minutes at 132 °C (270 °F) Minimum of 30 minutes at 121 °C (250 °F) Drying time: 20-30 minutes Pre-Vacuum Type autoclave Minimum of 4 minutes at 132 °C (270 °F) Drying time: 20-30 minutes
Corrosion Disinfectants, such as Cavicide, are highly corrosive and should never be used on dental handpieces. Handpieces should be allowed to completely dry after sterilization. Never remove them before the dry cycle has fully completed. Handpieces can fail to dry properly if the sterilizer is overloaded. Pouches shouldn’t be stacked or touching when placed in the sterilizer. There also needs to be enough space between each pouch to allow for proper air circulation. If you can see water droplets in the pouch, most likely there is still water inside the handpiece. Improper Lubrication Handpieces can be lubed too little, too much, or improperly flushed. Check your handpiece’s IFU for specific lubrication instructions. High Speeds handpieces should be lubed and flushed after every use with an aerosol cleaner/lubricant or a maintenance machine. High Speeds spin so fast that when they stop, they can retract oral fluids, including blood and other debris. If not flushed out properly, these debris can get baked inside the handpiece during sterilization and cause premature failure. Low Speeds only need to be lubricated and flushed approximately every 5 uses. They should be lubed with a dropper bottle and usually only need 4 or 5 drops. We don’t recommend the use of sprays or lubrication machines for low speeds. Unlike high speeds, they don’t spin fast enough to retract fluids, but they still need to be flushed to remove excess lubricant. Excess lubricant can coagulate and collect debris over time and cause early failure. Damage to Ball Bearings High air pressure can cause the bearings in your handpiece to warp. Most handpieces are built to work at 32-35 PSI. It’s not uncommon to find air pressures set above 50 PSI in offices though. Often the pressure has been turned up to get more torque, when the best solution for this is a higher quality handpiece with a higher wattage. Rapid temperature changes can cause bearings and other parts to warp. Do not use water or air to cool handpieces that are still warm or hot from being in the sterilizer. Physical Damage Physical damage can occur from dropping handpieces or from using anything besides your thumb on a push button chuck. Using the corner of a counter or any other object can put too much force on the chuck. Releasing the Bur While Still Spinning The button to release a bur should never be pressed until it has completely stopped spinning. If done prematurely the loosened bur can spin and wear down the parts inside the chuck mechanism. Poor Quality Components You can get cheap handpieces on eBay, Amazon, or Alibaba. Not only will these not last very long, but most of the handpieces on these sites are not FDA approved. Dirty Air or Water Make sure air filters are clean to prevent debris from clogging the air line in the handpiece. Make sure your water lines are being shocked on a regular basis to remove biofilm(bacteria). Besides possibly making patients sick, this biofilm can build up and and clog the water lines in your handpiece. We recommend regular water testing and shocking. Water treatments such as tablets, straws, and canisters can slow this build up while protecting your patients.
(484) 786-8910 | 131 Birch Street, Coatesville, PA 19320