Effects of Bilpron on the reduction of colony counts of some bacteria existing in dental unit waterlines

Effects of Bilpron on the reduction of colony counts of some bacteria existing in dental unit waterlines Dr. SM. Safavi* - Dr. SA. Ghaemmaghami** - Dr. M. Aminzadeh*** - Dr. K. Alavi****- S. Taheri***** *- Assistant Professor of Orthodontics Dept. - Faculty of Dentistry – Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. **- Professor and Chief of Diagnosis and Oral Diseases – Faculty of Dentistry – Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. ***- Assistant Professor of Virology & Immunology Dept. Faculty of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences. ****- Consultant of Dental Research Centre, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. *****- Member of Microbiology Dept. Faculty of Medicine, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences. Background and Aim: Bacterial contamination of dental unit waterlines may be attributed to biofilm formation. According to American Dental Association (ADA), bacterial colony counts of dental unit waterlines less than 200 CFU/ml if favorable. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of Bilpron, as a disinfectant, on bacterial colony counts of dental unit waterlines. Materials and Methods: In this controlled trial study on water samples of dental units, Shaheed Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, 6 units with Bilpron injection system as cases and 8 units without any disinfectant as controls of Endodontics department were investigated. Samples were obtained during 6 times, 3 samples of each unit (totally 108 samples in case group and 144 in control one). Sampling was performed on Wednesday and Saturday. Data were subjected to X2 and Fisher exact tests. Results: In samples without any bacterial contamination on Wednesdays, Bilpron was able to prevent staphylococcus growth on Saturdays (3.3%) which was significantly lower than the controls (16.3%) (P<0.01). There was no infection of Pseudomonas, beta hemolytic streptococci and Ecoli in Bilpron group that for all types the differences were statistically significant (P<0.01). However in contaminated waterlines on Wednesday, there was not a statistically significant difference between two groups. Conclusion: Bilpron may prevent bacterial growth in water if it is not contaminated but its usefulness for contaminated water has not been proved. Key words: Dental Unit Waterlines – Bacterial contamination of waters – Bilpron – Disinfection