The Compliance Divas Podcast
Our podcast covers current topics such as infection prevention and control, OSHA and HIPAA compliance for dentistry. We discuss the latest regulatory information, answer frequently asked questions and give suggestions for dental practices to make compliance easy and sustainable. The Compliance Divas are a trusted source for consistent, accurate information based upon current guidelines, standards, science, and recommendations.
The Compliance Divas Podcast
#182 If You're not Testing, You're Just Guessing
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Is water testing a chore in your office? Are you feeling overwhelmed because you're the sole person managing waterlines in your practice. We have the solution for you! This podcast will not only deepen your knowledge regarding waterlines but so will these tips.
- Solmetex Waterline Solutions. https://solmetex.com/water-solutions/
Welcome. I'm Leslie Cannum. I'm Mary Gavoni.
SPEAKER_02I'm Linda Harvey. I'm Olivia Wan, and together we are the Compliance Divas.
SPEAKER_01Welcome to the Compliance Divas Podcast. This is Linda Harvey and I will be your moderator for this episode. Well, the Divas are wondering: is water testing a chore in your office? Or are you feeling overwhelmed because you're the sole person managing water lines in your practice? Well, lean into this podcast because we have a lot more to share with you. As the Compliance Divas, we bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. We invite you to subscribe to our podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecompliancedevas.com. Any resources that we mentioned in the podcast will be found in the show notes. And we invite you to submit questions to support at thecompliancedevas.com. And don't forget, at the end of the podcast, scroll down and give us a review. Well, you may recall that we've talked about dental unit water lines earlier this year, and in May we spoke about the brand new water test on the market, the Fast Check 15, which was the newest product in the Sterocil Waterline Products. You may recall Sterocil is part of the Solmetrix family of products, and Solmetics is Dentistry's complete provider of water solutions. Their family of brands represent solutions to manage the water in your practice throughoutpatient care and out of the practice. So it is our pleasure to welcome Ryan Mergentheim with us again, who is the director of sales for the East Coast. Great to have you, Brian.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's a pleasure to spend some time with you.
SPEAKER_01Well, thanks. Well, we are eager to go a little bit deeper because every time we talk about water testing and water lines, there's always more to learn. Seems like we can always peel back down just a wee bit more and a wee bit more. So we have some questions for you, and I'd like to ask our diva Mary to start us off, please.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, Linda. And Brian, welcome back. We're glad to uh glad to have you here with us again. Thank you. What we'd like to do for listeners who may have missed the previous podcast when we talked about FastCheck 15, if you could just sort of recap for our listeners the features and benefits of FastCheck 15 and how it impacts workflow in the dental practice.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And you know, the the reason we were so excited to launch FastCheck 15 and remain excited uh up to now about it is it's really a one-of-a-kind test in the dental business for waterline safety, in that it doesn't require any sort of interpretation. It doesn't require any incubation time at all. It's a result that you're gonna have in 15 minutes. And really, after what we've experienced from 2020 on through current day, it's in a format that most people can understand and appreciate, which is one line means you pass, two lines mean you fail. It very much is similar to a COVID test or a pool chemistry test. So if you have a pool in your backyard or you've ever had to jam a swab up your nose and test to make sure that you're that you don't have COVID, you're going to know what that result is just from looking at it without even needing the instructions.
SPEAKER_03Thanks, Brian. And as complex as so many things are now in our dental practices, simplicity is great. And with new people coming on board and perhaps inexperienced dental assistants who might be charged with doing this, the simpler the better to avoid errors and to make sure that people will comply with the testing protocols.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. I think one of our goals, or one perhaps our main goal, was really to simplify this entire process. As we've discussed in the past, there's a lot of guidance about dental unit waterline safety, but the problem is the guidance is kind of all over the place and it's not this synthesized in any one specific spot. In addition, from a from a regulation standpoint, there's only one state in the entire country so far that mandates quarterly testing. The rest of the country is, so to speak, the wild, wild west.
SPEAKER_03You are so right, Brian. And just for clarification for our listeners, those of you who are in Washington state, you are that one state that has that mandate. Yes.
SPEAKER_01I love the simplicity of this test as well, Brian. And while I don't have a pool, we have tested our hot tub and I have taken several COVID tests over the past few years. So it's easy to identify with, and it's just so simple. One of the things that I enjoy about recommending the Fast Check 15 is, like you said, it takes such a short amount of time that now team members are not tethered to only testing certain days of the week. You can test any day, any time of the day. So that's just really frees up their schedule to be more manageable and improve their workflow. But even though we talk about the simplicity of your test, there's still a lot of protocols and challenges on the market with other things. And Olivia has a question for you on that.
SPEAKER_02Brian, you're a wealth of information for us, and we appreciate you taking time to be with us. But we would like you to talk a little bit more about the recommended protocol for testing and shocking, please.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And what we've tried to do with this is really keep this user-friendly. So, in other words, simple, affordable, accurate, right? So, what we've seen is kind of a shift between old technologies that weren't designed necessarily to work well together. And now something that we've really following the protocol from ADS and the CDC in terms of what is the best way to handle this. We think we've kind of locked down a pretty good rhythm for offices to do that are again going to be easy for them to accomplish and easy on their budget as well. So for starters, we do suggest that they use uh a rapid test like Fast Check 15 monthly, right? Again, fast check 15, you're gonna have a result within 15 minutes. You're not waiting three days for paddles to incubate or waiting, you know, up to a week for a test, a mail-in test to come back. Alongside that, we do recommend that you do do a R2A test, a mail-in test twice a year. We are partnered with company called Dentasafe, that is the only EPA certified dental water lab in the country. In terms of shocking, we've left it more as the word we'll use is shock regularly. And by that, if you're in an office that has not traditionally been maintaining your water lines well, I would suggest that you could shock monthly. If you're an office that has been diligent about this and stayed on top of it pretty well, I would say quarterly is sufficient. Again, there's no harm in doing it as long as you're using the right materials to shock your lines, as in you don't want to use something like bleach, which is extremely caustic and will and can damage your equipment in the operatory. But if you're using something that's designed specifically as a dental unit waterline shock, there's there's no problem with using it more frequently, and it keeps you ahead.
SPEAKER_02Sounds good, Brian. So if I understand correctly, each month we would use the Fast Check 15, and then the Dentistafe certified dental lab would be a water test that's quarterly, and then the shocking is monthly and maybe quarterly, depending. Is that right?
SPEAKER_00Uh the the R2A test, which ours is powered by Dentistafe, we we suggest twice a year, so every six months.
SPEAKER_02Twice a year.
SPEAKER_00Twice a year. And you know, again, we're we're we're trying to go with the guidance that ADS has provided for years, not step into uh a zone that people might think is overkill, but at the same time make sure that offices are really staying ahead of this game.
SPEAKER_02And Brian, could you explain for our audience who ADS is?
SPEAKER_00ADS used to be known as OSAP. So ADS is the new name for OSAP, which is dentistry's lore leading organization for safety within the dental office.
SPEAKER_02Awesome. And also, Brian, can you give a little more definition or clarification on what the RA test means?
SPEAKER_00An R2A test is a sample that gets taken from the office and then sent into a third-party lab. That process ordinarily takes roughly 72 to 96 hours to incubate, and then they plate the sample up and look at it under a microscope and count bacteria under a microscope.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome, Brian. And I've actually visited that lab. It's a very impressive process. Thank you, Brian, for clarifying those things. Back to you, Linda.
SPEAKER_01Thanks, Brian. I think it's important that our listeners understand what that R2A test is because when you say a mailback test, it can just it can be Greek to them or not, don't even think about what happens on the other end to get that specificity, because with that test, you actually get the exact number of colony-forming units that you have in your unit. So that really empowers you with a lot of information. And much like we've talked to our listeners, Brian, about hybrid testing when it comes to testing their sterilizers, this is a hybrid method for making sure you have both in-house and in third-party validity. So I think it's a great, great recommendation.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And there are several types of mail-in tests as well. So just to be clear, the the R2A test is what's considered the gold standard for deniguring world line safety.
SPEAKER_01Thanks for qualifying that. Absolutely. Well, as we peel back the onion during this podcast, Diva Leslie has a question for you about water in general.
SPEAKER_04Hey, Brian, what is the difference of the type of water? Does it really matter whether a practice uses municipal water versus any other type of water, like distilled water?
SPEAKER_00The difference is going to involve a couple different things, one of which is the chemical makeup of the water. There are times where, if there's high chlorine levels or high levels of other chemicals that it can affect whatever other treatment products you're using. The sterosil by Solmetics products actually give you a couple different options. You can use distilled water in a water bottle, and we have a straw that is specifically designed to be used with distilled water. We also have a straw that's to be used with municipal water within the bottle as well. It just depends on what the office's preference is, really. Distilled water contains zero solids, and there are chair manufacturers that actually don't recommend distilled water being placed in their water bottles. The caveat to that statement is once those uh once that water in the bottle is treated with our straw, it's technically no longer distilled water anyway. So it is it is not harmful to to the user's equipment.
SPEAKER_04That's great. And so, Brian, can you also tell us a little bit more about what dental teams need to know when they have new dental units? I had experienced last week a dental office who had brand new dental units and they were getting conflicting information from where they bought the units from.
SPEAKER_00I'm glad you brought that up because it's definitely one of the things that I feel like is an oversight with most offices when they're purchasing new equipment. If you think about the fact that when manufacturers are building units in their factories, before they get shipped out, they are tested to make sure that they're working, which includes running water through the through the Dental Unit water lines. Now it's being boxed up, shipped, sitting. So there's been water in surface contact with those tubings for you know days, weeks, potentially months on end without anything else going through those lines. So I think a good practice and a good habit for offices to get into is when they do replace a delivery unit in their office, before they start seeing patients in that room, they should be at minimum shocking, testing, and then beginning to treat that that water.
SPEAKER_04Well, that's great news. And it's also important to recognize that where you get your information is important. I understood that the practice had contacted their dental dealer, their dental rep who supplies everything else, to ask whether they needed to do anything, and they were told that they did not, that the unit was brand new, there was no need to do anything. Then they contacted the manufacturer and got the details. So our listeners would be well advised with new equipment to go straight to the manufacturer, get the information, look at if there's anything in the owner's manual, but get to the top dog first, instead of trying to go by someone maybe that has been told something different or learned something different or just doesn't know.
SPEAKER_00I think getting that information from the from the chair and unit manufacturers is extremely important and following their instructions for use. Additionally, I think maybe the the more prudent avenue is going to a company like Soul Medics or one of the other companies in the dental business whose forte is really waterline safety and who might have a little bit of a difference of opinion in terms of what's smart versus what's just okay to do.
SPEAKER_04Great information.
SPEAKER_01Brian, I think you hit the nail on the head when you said what's smart, because we don't want to settle for just you know something that's below standard or just okay to do. And the reason I'm really that really resonates with me is when you think about patients' medical histories. There's so much that our patients don't typically tell us, or maybe they don't know about themselves. And sometimes medications they're taking can cause immunodeficiencies, and sometimes they have an immunodeficiency issue, and they may not even be diagnosed yet. So we have to really be prepared to think about those aspects in our practice. And everything has is going to a deeper level. It's not just, has there been any changes in your medical history? Because what we're doing in your mouth today, not just the treatment, but the water we're using, makes a difference too. Brian, can I ask you to just recap briefly for our listeners today the main highlights, the differences between the steril straw and your tablets, so we can they can understand the depth of that piece as well, please?
SPEAKER_00Sure. Basically, to me, I prefer the straw because it's sand we it sort of makes us the Ron Popeel of Dental Unit Waterlines, right? It's kind of set it and forget it. You put the straw in, it's good for one year. As long as you're using our shock, which is citrusil shock, you don't need to remove the straw to shock. You can shock right through the straw. You don't need to empty the bottle and dry it out at the end of every day. You don't need to dry the straw off at the end of every day. And that's really what sets us apart from the other companies that make straws because we use a we use a silver resin in our straw as opposed to iodine. The other straw manufacturers, there's there's a bunch more steps that are involved on a daily basis just in terms of maintaining those rooms. On the flip side, we do have citrusil daily maintenance tablets as well. That's going to involve the same process. It's it's still a silver resin, uh a silver ion. And really the only difference is that you have to remember on a daily basis whether you remember to drop that tablet into that bottle. And so for me, you know, I think the the most foolproof method is installing a straw and you mark down what when when your change out date is and you replace it at the one-year mark. There's very little other maintenance you have to do in the interim.
SPEAKER_01I couldn't agree with you more. I think it just makes it so much more user-friendly. It helps with the workflow, and there's a lot less stress on the team where they have to remember details more frequently. There's more steps in the chain that you're going to forget. I would like to listen to our listeners as we're um going through the conversation with Brian today, to go back and listen to episode number 159, which was the game changer for May when we helped SteroSo launch this new Fast Check 15 test. And then episode number 170, where we talked about water testing in particular again. Brian, I would love it if you could go through the steps in doing the fast check 15 for our listeners, because in case they've used it and have questions, they can help revisit it, or maybe they have not yet used your test.
SPEAKER_00Certainly. So this is extremely simple. Basically, what we're gonna do is we're gonna take a sample from each room involving all of the water lines in that room. So, for example, we're gonna take lines from typically two high-speed handpiece lines. We're gonna take water from the air water syringe, and then if it's a hygiene room, maybe you take a sample of water from the Cavitron as well. Then you're going to take five drops from that pooled sample, and you're going to put it into the vial that comes with the fast check 15. You're going to swirl it and you're going to wait five minutes. Then you're going to take a little test strip, again, very similar to a COVID test. You're going to put the test strip into the vial, you're going to wait 10 minutes, and at the end of 10 minutes, you're going to have either one line showing, which means that your waterline passed, or two lines showing, which means that there's a little bit of an issue. Like a COVID test, a faint line does count as a for a second line, a faint line does count as a fat. So, and I would I would presume that much like a COVID test, it has to do with viral load, right? So in a COVID test, if you have a really faint second line, it probably means you've got a pretty mild case of COVID. Whereas if you have a big red, a big bright red line, chances are you've got a little bit more of a severe case. I would say that's that is the case with with Fast Check 15 as well. So even a faint line visible as that second line, it does mean that there's an issue that needs attention. Again, usually all that means is shock. And then you can retest. We don't want to retest immediately following a test, uh failing test, because you're sort of gaming the system there. You should pass right after you shock. So we'll typically suggest to offices that they wait three to five days before retesting.
SPEAKER_01That's perfect. Thank you, Brian, for recapping that. I want to advise our listeners not to make the mistake I did the first time when I was playing around with a test, and that is not really pay attention to the directions. I'm going to admit that. And I put I put in more than five drops. Listeners, in case you haven't used the test yet, besides the little reagent, the red ring around the bottom of the vial, there's like a little marking just of about a half an inch, would you say, Brian, above it? And so I mistakenly thought I had to put that much water in. And I got a very diluted spoiled test and I couldn't read the results at all. So once I realized it was much like we say in computers, it was that loose nut sitting between the keyboard and the chair that made the mistake. So I want to own up to that and just remind our listeners be sure you always read the manufacturer's instructions for use because it makes a difference. Brian, I would like to talk about let's do a PSA for what Silmetics and Staircell is doing for our neighbors and dentistry in North Carolina in areas where they've really had some challenges and devastation from the hurricanes, and you have a great hurricane relief effort going on. So could I ask you just to mention that for our listeners, please?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. For any office in Florida, Western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, or elsewhere that was affected by either hurricanes, Helene or Milton. We are asking offices to reach out to us. There's a spot on our website for it, or you can call directly into our customer service and request both free water testing and free shock to help your office transition back to operating safely. We do know that in a lot of these cases, there's a lot of offices that are still closed that could take potentially months or longer to get back in the saddle, so to speak. But this is an ongoing offer that we've we've put out there for dental offices that are in need of assistance and want to reopen their practices safely.
SPEAKER_01I think that's amazing. I think it's so important. So, listeners, if you're not in one of those areas affected by the hurricanes, but you know somebody that is, reach out to them on social media or if they're your friends, whoever, just reach out to them and please make them aware of this effort because we really want to help practices as much as possible open back up with safe water lines.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. And it's actually right at the top of the Soul Medics homepage. It says hurricane support and boil water advisory guidance. And that will give everybody all the information they need and a link to exactly where they need to go to fill out that form.
SPEAKER_01Perfect, because we had not mentioned boiled water yet. So that was perfect, Brian. Thank you for mentioning that important aspect of this as well. Well, thank you again for joining us, Brian. It's been a pleasure kind of peeling back this onion one more layer to understand a little bit deeper on the workflow. Something that I've learned this episode is just about new demo units and the fact that they come with contaminated lines, so to speak, because they've been tested in the factory. So little details that make a big difference. As the Compliance Divas, we bring clarity and simplicity to compliance by navigating the regulatory world to keep you on course. We invite you to subscribe to our podcast through your favorite podcast channel or on our website, thecompliancedivas.com. Any resources that we mentioned today will be found in the show notes. And we invite you to submit questions to support at thecompliancedivas.com. And don't forget to scroll down at the end of this podcast and leave us a review. We look forward to the next episode. Thanks for joining us.