CBS Tests Dental Waters
The dental industry has known about the problem for nearly 30 years.
The water your dentist squirts in your mouth may be unfit for drinking or may make you sick. CBS News This Morning's Julie Chen reports on the results of its own test.
Bacteria is found everywhere, even in the small tubes that supply water for dentists.
"What people don't see is what's inside the tubing that isn't getting wiped down; it isn't getting disinfected or sterilized in the majority of offices," says Margaret Johnston, a practicing dentist fighting to clean up dentistry's dirty little secret.
In her research, she tested 150 dentist offices nationwide and found the water in more than two-thirds of them unfit for human consumption by military standards.
That dirty water can create a serious health problems for high-risk patients like seniors, asthma sufferers and those with a weak immune system.
"You don't need to have dead bodies in order to know that something is not hygienic and is hazardous," says Johnston.
CBS News found 15 dentists in the New York area who agreed to have their dental water lines tested anonymously and sent the samples to Dr. Bernard Moncla at the University of Pittsburgh.
"The samples were taken from various sources within the office: the high-speed drill, the air water syringe, usually the water syringe," says Dr. Moncla.
Most of the dental water tested was so full of germs that federal standards wouldn't allow people to drink it without boiling it.
"Seventy-two percent...failed to meet the standard recommended by the American Dental Association," says Dr. Moncla.
That's exactly what Dr. Johnston found in her independent study. Some of the bacteria found included streptococcus, which can cause strep throat, and bacillus, a common soil contaminant.
 CBS | |
| Dr. Margaret Johnston: The inside tubing is not getting sterilized. |
The cleanest was a sample from a urinal at CBS, which tested below a hundred; the American Dental Association considers that anything above 200 does not meet its voluntary standards.
"Public toilets get scrubbed and disinfected," says Dr. Moncla. "Dental lines - you just can't scrub them; they're too small. They have to be replaced." he explains.
"There is some expense; [there's] no question about it. But that's not necessarily an important consideration when there's a potential risk involved,"> adds Dr. Chris Miller, a microbiologist and a spokesman for the American Dental Association.
For the last four years, the ADA has been working with dental-equipment manufacturers to come up with a solution by the year 2000. Already some manufacturers have products on the market. Most involve initially disinfecting water lines.
In addition, dentists have many different ways to keep their new lines clean, such as using disposable filters, chemicals to treat the water or sterile water delivery systems.
Currently, there are no laws enforcing water quality in dental lines.
"I don't think this needs to be legalized. The dental profession has a very good history of being proactive in relation to patient safety. And they will continue to do so," Miller notes.
The CBS News study was an unscientific survey but its findings did mirror results in other studies. In California legislation is in committee that would regulate dental water.
For now, consumers will need to check with their dentists to see how clean the dental water is.
For more information visit the American Dental Association Web site or The Coalition for Safe Dental Water Web site.
And for a related story, read "Dental Water May Be Harmful."
©1999 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved