Title: Disinfection of clinical materials using photo-activated tolonium chloride solution

Authors: G.A. Thomson; M.S. Pridham; Y.L. Liu; R.E. Mackay

Addresses: Mechanical Engineering and Design, Aston University, Birmingham, B4 7ET, UK. ' School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK. ' MacDermid plc, 198 Golden Hillock Road, Birmingham, B11 2PN, UK. ' School of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics, University of Dundee, Dundee, DD1 4HN, UK

Abstract: Photo-activated disinfection is beginning to be used in dental surgery to treat deep seated bacterial infection. It works by combining a photosensitiser and light of a specific frequency to generate singlet oxygen which is toxic to many types of bacteria. It is suggested that this technique could be used as a means to help treat infection more generally. To do so, it needs to work with materials and geometries exhibiting different physical and optical characteristics to teeth. In these trials, samples of stainless steel and polymethylmethacrylate were exposed to bacterial solutions of Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermis. These were treated with tolonium chloride-based photo-activated disinfection regimes showing positive results with typically 4 log10 reductions in colony forming units. Tests were also carried out using slotted samples to represent geometric features which might be found on implants. These tests, showed disinfectant effect however to a much lesser degree.

Keywords: photo-activated disinfection; tolonium chloride; laser; Staphylococcus aureus; Staphylococcus epidermis; medical engineering; clinical materials; dental surgery; dentists; bacterial infection; stainless steel; polymethylmethacrylate.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMEI.2011.044752

International Journal of Medical Engineering and Informatics, 2011 Vol.3 No.4, pp.381 - 393

Published online: 07 Mar 2015 *

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