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Comment by fooqux | Hacker News Reader

There's nothing wrong with a refurbished device like this, provided it's been cleaned. I don't understand why people always have problems with things like this.

Or do you have a problem with the cleaning tools the dental hygienist uses? Those were in someone else's mouth the previous day, after all.

I agree with your other points, although if the device cleans your teeth better, that may be worth it to some people.

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The refurbished point confused me. Does that mean they refurbish your own old one? If so, I would think that would alleviate most people's cootie fears. And if it's someone else's, how does that work? I thought they had to be custom created for each person's mouth.

> Or do you have a problem with the cleaning tools the dental hygienist uses

They open a sealed set of new tools for each patient at all of the places I've been. Is this a US thing?

They are not "new" - they are simply cleaned and resealed in packaging.

It would be crazy expensive to only use these instruments once.

They'd move to disposable items which would be much cheaper.

But, even then, people want to reuse items. (http://www.crd.york.ac.uk/crdweb/ShowRecord.asp?LinkFrom=OAI...)

Luckily there seems to be lots of research around reusable instruments.

(https://www.evidence.nhs.uk/search?q=disposable%20instrument...)

Many of the tools are actually reused again and again. However, between uses they are sterilized using an autoclave and then immediately put into sealed bags to maintain sterility.

Not quite, you have to sterilize the things in the bag.

Yep. The bags usually have an indicator to show that they've been properly autoclaved (e.g. have reached the required temperature and pressure for enough time).

Just because the bags are sealed doesn't mean the tools have never been used. They are cleaned, sealed in bags, and put in an autoclave to be sterilized.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclave

It doesn't really look like cleaning that would be as straightforward as cleaning a lot of the equipment that dental hygienists use.

I use a "dental device" on those nights that I remember to place it in my mouth, and typically I just give it a soak in some water with one of those denture cleaning tablets thrown in. Couldn't be much easier to clean.

My assumption is that cleaning this device would be the same.

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