Bacteria Contamination in Water System and Environmental Health Factors in Dental Clinics of Sub-district Promotion Health Hospitals, Phuket

Abstract

This survey study of total bacteria contamination in the water system and environmental health factors in 16 dental clinics of health promotion hospitals in Phuket province was performed with objectives: (1) to determined total bacteria count in the dental unit water system such as 16 water samples of oral rinsing cup (OR) points and 16 water samples of triple syringe (TS) points by using culture technique and reported as CFU/ml compared with American Dental Association Standard, interpreted as pass or not pass the standard; (2) to studied the chemical and physical quality including pH and temperature which affected to the growth of bacteria by using portable point of care instrument at OR and TS points as 32 samples/points, and (3) to investigated environmental health factors in dental clinics that affected bacterial contamination such as air system, water system, and dental equipment water cleaning system by using a questionnaire with a Cronbach’s alpha score of 0.97. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics including the percentage. The results showed that: determination of total bacteria content from OR points found that 8 water samples passed the standard (50%) and 8 water samples did not pass the standard (50%). The first 3 namely of not pass water samples were PK-15, a health promotion hospiatal, which was contaminated with a total bacteria count of 340,000 CFU/ml, pH = 6.92, temperature = 25.00 0 C, and followed by PK-9, the second hospital, which was contaminated with total bacteria 9,600 CFU/ ml, pH = 6.92, temperature = 26.00 0 C, and PK-2, the third hospital, which found the contamination of total bacteria count as 1,400 CFU/ml, pH = 7.20 and temperature = 26.00 0 C. The total bacterial load threshold (ADA) was determined to be less than 200 CFU/ml, which was an indicator of bacterial contamination within the dental unit. TS water samples were not found total bacteria contamination due to the health promotion hospital used sterilized distilled water and the investigation result of environmental health factors found the mean of dental clinic room temperature was 24.00 o C, the mean of humidity was 50% HEPA filter installation. This is the optimum range that has the least effect on the survival of airborne bacteria and has the least effect on health. The research results could be useful for environmental health management in dental clinic to reduce the risk of disease in health promotion hospital.