Dental Sterilizers: How to Choose.

A sterilizer is the last machine in instrument processing. Cleaning comes first. The instrument washer or the ultrasonic cleaner does that job. This guide is the cycle after the cassette is clean and dry. An ultrasonic tank is not a sterilizer, and it is not listed here.

How to choose a dental sterilizer

• Steam chamber, cassette, or dry heat. Most wrapped dental instruments are cleared for steam. A cassette sterilizer is a small steam chamber you lift off. Dry heat is an oven. It is a different process, and only for instruments the maker allows in dry heat.
• What fits in one cycle. Chamber size is the number of cassettes or pouches per load, from the current manual for that model. A family name is not a volume. The larger Midmark is not the smaller Midmark. A STATIM cassette is not a chamber stack.
• How it dries. A wet pouch is not ready to store. Some chambers open the door to dry. Some dry with the door closed. A cassette dries the load that fits in that cassette, not the day’s pouches.
• Where the water comes from. Some units use a reservoir you drain. Some use fresh water every cycle. Use the water the manual names.
• One machine rarely does both jobs. A cassette turns a small load around between patients. A chamber takes the wrapped cassettes. Offices that try to make one unit do both usually wait on the one they bought.

How common sterilizer lines differ

Treat the table as product differences, not a score. Take chamber size from the current manual for the model on the quote.

Line	Type	Best fit	Watch for
Midmark M9 and M11	Tabletop steam. The door opens to dry. Water sits in a reservoir	Offices that already buy Midmark and want a chamber unit	The M11 is the larger chamber. Open-door drying is not closed-door drying
SciCan STATIM	Cassette steam, fresh water each cycle	A small load that has to be ready between patients	It does not hold the day’s pouches. A 2000 and a 5000 are different cassette sizes
SciCan STATCLAVE	Chamber steam with vacuum before the cycle and vacuum drying after	Wrapped cassettes when you want a SciCan chamber next to the STATIM	A short cycle on a light load is not a full stack of cassettes
Tuttnauer	Compact steam and larger automatic chambers	The other common U.S. quote beside Midmark	A Valueklave is not an EZ-series chamber. The model has to be on the quote
W&H Lexa	Chamber steam with closed-door drying	Offices buying it as a W&H unit or on an A-dec package	Confirm which badge you will call for service. The two names are not a guess you want to make later

Midmark

The M9 and the M11 are the Midmark tabletop pair offices already know. Both are steam, both hold water in a reservoir you drain, and both open the door to dry. The M11 is the larger chamber. The M9 is the smaller external box. Do not copy a chamber diameter from an old comparison grid onto either one. Read the manual for the model you are buying. Open-door drying is a different path from a unit that dries with the door closed.

SciCan STATIM

The STATIM is the cassette. It heats a small amount of fresh water each cycle and the chamber comes out of the unit, which is why a small load finishes faster than a stored-water chamber. The 2000 is the smaller cassette. The 5000 holds more. Neither one is the STATCLAVE. Use it for the instrument you need back before the next patient. It is the wrong only-sterilizer for an office that pouches a full day of cassettes.

SciCan STATCLAVE

STATCLAVE is SciCan’s chamber sterilizer. Vacuum comes before the cycle, for steam penetration, and after it, for drying, with the door closed. It is the wrapped-load machine in a SciCan stericenter that also has a STATIM. A cycle time printed for a light test load is not the time for a full stack. G4 connectivity does not replace a failed indicator.

Tuttnauer

Tuttnauer is the other steam quote on most U.S. dealer lists. The Valueklave is the compact unit. The EZ series is the larger automatic chamber, with closed-door drying on the models sold that way. Those are different machines. A quote that says “Tuttnauer” without the model is not a chamber size. Do not borrow another brand’s gallons to fill the blank.

W&H Lexa

Lexa is the W&H chamber sterilizer, with closed-door drying. Some equipment packages badge the same class of unit through A-dec. Confirm which name is on the unit you will service, and whether parts and the software follow that badge. It is a chamber unit, not a cassette, and it is not a dry-heat oven.

Dry heat

CPAC’s Steri-Dent and the Wayne ovens are dry heat. They do not use steam or chamber pressure. Use them only when the instrument instructions allow dry heat. A handpiece cleared for steam does not become a dry-heat instrument because the oven is already on the counter. Dry heat can sit beside an autoclave. It does not replace the pouched steam cycle.

Related guides

• Sterilization equipment
• Instrument washers
• Ultrasonic cleaners
• Air and electric handpieces

Sterilizer questions

Is the ultrasonic cleaner a sterilizer?

No. Cavitation in a tank removes debris. The cassette is still not sterile. That comparison lives on the ultrasonic cleaner page.

Does the washer replace the autoclave?

No. A washer can clean and thermally disinfect. Packaging and the sterilizer cycle come after it. The washer guide is the buying page for that machine.

Can dry heat replace steam for handpieces?

Only when the handpiece maker says so. The steam units above are the usual cycle for a turbine. Follow the handpiece instructions for the one you own.