Proposed ADA standards, technical report available for review by Aug. 31

Documents address dental unit air and water systems, implantable materials

Five new documents are available from the American Dental Association’s Standards Program for review and comment by Aug. 31.

Proposed ANSI/ADA Standard No. 47-2 for Dentistry — Stationary Dental Units and Dental Patient Chairs — Part 2: Air, Water, Suction and Wastewater Systems: This standard specifies requirements and test methods for stationary dental units concerning:

• The properties of stationary dental unit connections to the compressed air supply, water supply, suction supply and wastewater drain plumbing.
• The materials, design and construction of the compressed air and water system within the stationary dental unit.
• The quality for incoming water and air.
• The performance of the stationary dental unit suction system.
• The air, water, suction and wastewater properties of stationary dental unit connections to the interfaces to dental handpieces.

Proposed ANSI/ADA Standard No. 174 for Dentistry — Hose Connectors for Air Driven Dental Handpieces: This standard specifies four types of hose connectors for use between air-driven dental handpieces and the flexible hoses of the dental unit that supply the handpieces with water, air and light and provide for exhaust. Its aim is to achieve reliable interchangeability between hoses from dental units and dental handpieces.

Proposed ANSI/ADA Standard No. 206 for Dentistry — Implantable Materials for Bone Filling and Augmentation in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery — Contents of a Technical File: This standard applies to implantable materials used as dental devices for filling and augmenting bones in oral and maxillofacial surgery. Products that are essentially pure hydroxyapatite — more than 90% — are not covered by this standard. Evaluation includes the physico-chemical, mechanical, biological and clinical aspects and behavior of these implantable dental materials.

Proposed ANSI/ADA Standard No. 1100 for Dentistry — 2D and 3D Orthodontic/Craniofacial/Forensic Photographic Views and Viewsets: This standard provides a list of possible intraoral and extraoral visible light image (photographic) views as used by orthodontic/craniofacial/forensic providers; explanations and specific attributes of each view, making use of text and line art drawings where necessary; and terminology that includes necessary terms for encoding orthodontic views and viewsets. This standard is suitable for use in assigning tags, fields and information to visible light image views for implementation guides and profiles.

Proposed ADA Technical Report No. 1103 for Dentistry — Informatic Considerations in Assessment of Perceptions of Patients of Their Experience of Care: This technical report frames the benefits of capturing patient expectations and perceptions of their experience with a dental practice, highlights current and future uses by the dental profession, and provides guidance for electronic tools related to the patient experience and quality improvement. It explores and provides guidance for how patient experience tools empower patients and providers, promoting providers’ use and understanding of quality improvement, benchmarking and health outcomes.

To obtain a copy of the draft documents, visit ADA.org/aipreview.

The ADA is an American National Standards Institute-Accredited Standards Developer and has been at the forefront of the development of dental standards since 1928. These standards establish requirements for safe and effective dental products and technologies through a consensus-based process.

The ADA Standards Program working groups that develop standards consist of a diverse group of expert volunteers representing dental practitioners, industry, government and academia. Involvement is open to anyone who would like to contribute their expertise.

To learn more about the standards program, visit ADA.org/dentalstandards.