With the October 31 CDC Health Advisory Alert to the dental community on dental waterlines, orthodontic practices where reminded of the importance of best practices when it comes to dental waterline maintenance. While the alert concerned outbreaks of non-tuberculosis mycobacteria infections related to dental waterlines in pediatric dental clinics., it rightly is a wake up call to make sure your orthodontic practice is doing the right thing to protect patients and staff.

To learn more about best practices when it comes to maintenance and testing of dental waterlines, Orthodontic Products Chief Editor Alison Werner spoke to Kellie Thimmes and Mike Rust from ProEdge Dental Water Labs. Thimmes is a senior consultant and education specialist at the company, while Rust is a regional sales manager. Both have extensive experience working with dental and orthodontic practices to help them maintain safe dental waterlines.

In this episode, they talk about why orthodontic practices should pay attention to the CDC alert, the need for more awareness on the issue of dental waterline safety in general, and the risks to the patient, the practice, and the doctor’s license if dental waterlines are not maintained properly. As Thimmes and Rust point out, often, inspectors come to the practice to investigate a complaint unrelated to waterlines; but, once there, they’ll ask to see the practice’s latest water test results. And if those aren’t in order, the practice could have fines levied against it, while the doctor could face actions against their license.

They then take a deep dive on best practices for maintaining dental waterlines in the orthodontic practice and explain that while this is about protecting the health and safety of the patient and practice staff, it is also about ensuring equipment, such as handpieces, aren’t needlessly damaged. Rust and Thimmes explain what it means to have a compliant dental unit waterline, needed documentation, and the three main steps to dental unit waterline maintenance: shocking, treating, and testing. They breakdown how often you should be testing, testing options, and what to use to treat your waterlines between testings. And if your practice fails a waterline test, Rust and Thimmes say don’t panic. Address the problem and reach out to the experts if you need help. OP