How slow is your surface disinfectant?

Imagine you’re painting a wall. Move the brush too quickly and you will get less paint on the surface. But using nice, steady strokes will coat the surface evenly so that it dries consistently. Your surface disinfectant works just like that. It’s about how much a single disinfectant wipe can cover and how slowly the surface dries after contact.

A disinfectant wipe’s contact time is about how long a bacteria or virus must be exposed to the solution in the wipe for it to be rendered inactive. Sometimes referred to as a solution’s kill time, contact time only counts if the surface is wet with the solution.

A surface can’t be disinfected if the solution has evaporated before reaching its contact time. And depending on your wipe type, this could be a problem.

Because of their potent germicidal properties, many disinfectant wipes include ethyl alcohol (or ethanol) or isopropyl alcohol as part of their active ingredients. But alcohol’s volatility can cause it to evaporate too quickly from a surface. If a disinfectant evaporates before the contact time has elapsed, all germ-killing activity is compromised.

So how can you tell if your wipe is drying too fast? When you wipe down the back of a dental chair, by the time you are working on the seat, check to see if the back is still wet. If it has dried before the product’s contact time, then the chair is not properly disinfected.

A good disinfectant wipe will have additional qualities like a formulation with reduced surface tension, allowing for an even spread instead of beading. Wipe material is also important. A durable, non-woven construction ensures that the solution in the wipe gets deposited on the surface instead of staying inside the wipe. These two qualities are present in SciCan’s new OPTIM OS1 wipes, which use a proprietary surfactant-based solution.

In a recent Dental Advisor study on surface disinfectant wipes, OPTIM OS1 outperformed the other brands — including a leading quat-alcohol wipe. Not only did it remain effective for its full one-minute contact time, but it also covered a much larger surface area than the competitor wipes. Beyond proving its effectiveness, the study showed that a single OPTIM OS1 wipe was able to effectively clean and disinfect a surface area that would take several competitor wipes to complete effectively.

To learn more, drop by the SciCan booth at the Ontario Dental Association's Annual Spring Meeting and pick up a free sample of OPTIM OS1.

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