Hypochlorous acid in Dentistry

It is used as a mouth rinse, for endodontic irrigation, as an impression disinfectant, to soak instruments, ultrasonic baths, disinfect root canals, to remove biofilm from implant surfaces and eliminate biofilm and legionella in waterlines. Practicing dentistry in the midst of the Corona virus pandemic placed an industry which already valued hygiene under even more pressure to disinfect safely and effectively. Hypochlorous acid helped.

THE ADVANTAGES

The performance of HOCl in efficacy and safety tests is quantifiably superior to older technologies like hypochlorite and Hydrogen peroxide (H202).  The benefits for the dental industry are widely recognised:

  • Reacts with protein sulfhydryl groups to inactivate proteins
  • Reacts with protein amino groups for chloramines to cleave proteins
  • Inhibits glucose oxidation starving bacteria and viral pathogens of nutrient uptake
  • Inhibit DNA replication of bacterial cells
  • Causes post-translational modifications to proteins like cysteine and methionine
  • Oxidizes bacterial and viral cell wall and cytoplasm

HOCl delivers high levels of efficacy while remaining safer for patients and staff than toxic alternatives.

  • It’s widely used to inactivate bacteria and dissolve biofilms in a number of intra-oral dental applications, before, during and after dental treatment.
  • It saves dentists crucial time, especially in the changeover cycle between patients as all products are pre-mixed, ready to use. There’s no need to lose time pre-diluting toxic alternatives.
  • HOCl does not need to be wiped off surfaces.
  • It has a 10x faster effective time than bleach and alcohol.
  • HOCl can applied via misting using a cold fog humidifier to inactivate airborne pathogens.
  • It removes biofilm and disinfects water lines and eliminates free floating bacteria using a single product.
  • HOCL is proven to penetrate and kill biofilm and bacteria. This is a very important when used for periodontal disease where the vast majority of the bacteria is within a biofilm.

SAFETY AND BIO-COMPATABILITY

  • No genotoxicity
  • No cytotoxicity
  • Non mutagenic
  • No dermal toxicity
  • Non corrosive
  • No residues
  • Cost effective
  • Eco friendly
  • Biodegradable
  • Free from alcohol, formaldehyde, bleach and iodine
  • No acute inhalation toxicity
  • No dermal sensitivity, it actually promotes wound healing.

It is currently used in oral care, skincare, beauty products, ocular applications, diabetic wound healing, athletes foot, etc. It is also certified as food safe

According toCoVID-19 Dashboard by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) at Johns Hopkins University (JHU)”. ArcGIS. Johns Hopkins University. ] Retrieved 17 May 2020]

Hypochlorous acid is one disinfectant which combined with adequate PPE, screening/social distancing techniques, handwashing and high-volume evacuation suction that may help reduce the transmission of CoVID-19 in the outpatient OMFS surgical setting. It comprises many of the desired effects of the ideal disinfectant: it is easy to use, inexpensive, has a good safety profile, can be used to disinfect large areas quickly and with a broad range of bactericidal and virucidal effects.

Hypochlorous acid is produced in a state of the art manufacturing facility in Centurion, Gauteng, and is marketed under the brand name Hypo-Lyte.

See our accreditations HERE.

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