Save time and money with KaVo's QUATTROcare Plus handpiece maintenance system

Jeanne Godett, RDH, cannot imagine working without one. In fact, she doesn’t know why any practice wouldn’t use KaVo’s QUATTROcare Plus handpiece maintenance system.

She’s been using the system since it came out, and said she no longer has to hunt for clean handpieces, only to find dirty instruments she can’t use. Now they’re always ready for her, and not because she spent a lot of time hand cleaning and lubricating the instruments herself; the QUATTROcare Plus takes care of that. And because the handpieces are receiving the maintenance they need through this maintenance system, they last longer and that, of course, saves time and money.

“In a dental practice time is of the essence,” Godett said. “You have patients coming in constantly. If you have something you can put a handpiece in and then hit a button and walk away, you’re off and running again.”

How it works

The QUATTROcare Plus is an automatic handpiece maintenance system, and you can use it to clean most any handpiece on the market, Product Manager Christine Meaney said. It cleans up to four handpieces at once, and finishes the job in less than 2½ minutes. All you need to do is attach the handpiece onto the proper nozzle, close the door and push a button.

“This is literally plug and play,” Godett said. “You attach the handpiece, activate the machine, go back to the patient and then put the handpieces in the sterilizer. By the time you’re done with the patient the process is done. It’s a nice rotation. You’re using one handpiece, one is being sterilized and one is cooling down to use for the next patient. It’s very efficient.”

What you’re missing

If practices aren’t using an automatic maintenance system like QUATTROcare Plus, they’re using a spray can with oil for handpiece maintenance. If they used the QUATTROcare Plus instead, they’d get up to 80 psi of air pressure that pushes the oil and the cleaner so it gets deep inside the handpiece and forms a cleaning action to remove debris. Without that compressed air, you can’t be 100% sure you’re getting all of that debris, Meaney said. Not to mention the fact that one of your team members is spending 5 to 10 minutes hand cleaning the handpiece, time that could be much better spent assisting patients.

“The pressure makes a difference. So with that being said an office that’s not using an automatic maintenance system may not be cleaning their handpiece to the level they should be and therefore not getting the longevity in handpieces that they would expect,” Meaney said. “Handpieces are a large investment and when a handpiece is down it’s a problem, so any way you can keep them maintained and working at their optimum level is best.”

Not only is a handpiece maintenance system a quicker, more efficient way to get the job done, it also cuts down on debris flying in the office and the risk of cross contamination, Godett said.

Watch the exclusive video with Product Manager Christine Meaney

The update

The new QUATTROcare Plus has a new chuck care feature designed to keep your handpieces running smoothly and efficiently.

“One of the most important aspects of a handpiece other than the turbine is the chuck,” Meaney said. “If you don’t have proper gripping strength on your chuck there’s an opportunity not to have the tightest grip on the bur or the bur could become loose. It’s just one more step to make sure the entire handpiece is working and maintained properly.”

Longevity

A majority of the handpieces that come back to KaVo for repair have been poorly maintained, Meaney said. If handpieces are maintained properly, they will perform longer and better. You’ll save money and the aggravation that comes with repair downtime, and you won’t have to buy new handpieces nearly as often.

Many practices don’t properly maintain handpieces because it is so time consuming, which is why an automatic handpiece maintenance system is such an important addition to a practice.

“The assistants and hygienists have to maintain their own handpieces. They are so busy from one patient to the next that they have very little time in between appointments to take care of handpieces,” Meaney said. “So a lot of time this additional manual step of maintenance before sterilization is left for last and not done on a consistent basis. Anything that can help reduce the time it takes to go through the manual protocol and automate the process is going to help.”

The QUATTROcare Plus has streamlined the process at Godett’s practice, making appointments run more smoothly. She never has to look for a clean handpiece anymore, taking one more stress out of the work day, and she doesn’t have to waste time with manual maintenance. The handpieces have a longer life span, and that spreads the cost out over many years. For her, it truly is a no brainer.

“I can’t imagine an office not having one. It makes no sense,” she said. “It’s something that gives you more time on your handpiece and does it without you having to stand there. It makes no sense not to have one from the time efficiency standpoint.”