Table 1. Effect of water, SPC and ClO2 on the biofilms of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Streptococcus mutans on the dental unit waterline yellow, white and grey tubing.
| Experiments |
Mean±s.d. (bacterial counts in c.f.u./ml)
|
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control | H 2 O | SPC | 5 p.p.m. ClO 2 | 10 p.p.m. ClO 2 | |
| Stationarya (n=27) | 8.3×106±1.8×107 | 3.4×105±8.8×105 | 5.1×104±8.5×104 | 7±38 | 0±0 |
| Stationaryb (n=27) | 7.0×105±1.7×106 | 6.8×104±2.3×105 | 1.8×104±3.6×104 | 1.9×102±5.6×102 | 65±1.5×102 |
| Pump studyc (n=15) | 5.7×105±6.6×105 | 4.2×103±6.4×103 | 4.5×102±7.6×102 | 0±0 | 0±0 |
Abbreviations: ClO2, chlorine dioxide; SPC, sodium percarbonate.
a
Mono-culture biofilm on each type of tubing repeated three times.
b
Mixed-culture biofilm on each type of tubing repeated three times (bacterial counts obtained for each organism).
c
Mixed-culture biofilm on the grey tubing only repeated five times (bacterial counts obtained for each organism).