Collection: Monitoring

How Do You Know Your Sterilizer Is Working?

Sterilizer Monitoring

Duraline Systems carries everything you need to prove your sterilizer is working and keep your practice compliant — biological indicators (spore tests), chemical indicators and integrators, indicator tape, Bowie-Dick tests, process challenge devices, and the readers and incubators that go with them, for steam, dry heat, EtO gas, and plasma/hydrogen peroxide systems.

If you're new to monitoring, it helps to understand how the pieces fit together. Chemical indicators — including rigorous Class 5 integrators — verify that the conditions known to produce sterilization were actually met: sufficient time, temperature, and steam contact. They're calibrated to track spore-kill performance and are what you use to release each load. A spore test goes one step further and confirms the result itself. It challenges the cycle with live bacterial spores bred to survive far more than the microorganisms found on your instruments, so when those spores are destroyed, it's direct proof that sterilization occurred — not a prediction of it. That's why the two work together: integrators release your loads day to day, while spore testing validates the sterilizer on a schedule, in line with CDC and AAMI guidance.

Choosing a spore test comes down to three things — the type of sterilizer you run, whether you'd rather test in-office or mail your indicators to a lab, and how quickly you need results (options range from 20-minute rapid readouts to traditional 10, 24 and 48-hour indicators). Most practices are required to test at least weekly and with every implant load, though requirements vary by state and specialty. Not sure where to start? Shop by sterilizer type or product type below, or call us and we'll match you to the right system.

View comparison chart here highlighting the advantages of In-Office vs. Mail-In spore testing. Need help determining which system best suits your needs? Call us for professional assistance at 877-561-0500.

Learn how to Spore Test Your Autoclave - click here