If you are like most people, you probably have no idea how important autoclaves are to modern life. From medical offices to tattoo parlors, autoclaves keep us safe and free from infection. The best way to understand the importance of the autoclave to modern sanitation is to look to its origins and then consider the innovative ways it finds prominent placement in our world. An autoclave is a simple, yet highly functional device.

What Is an Autoclave?
This sealable container uses steam to kill bacteria. Most autoclaves use a heating element and water to create steam. An easily recognizable household autoclave is the baby bottle sterilizer, which makes bottles sanitary in about ten minutes. The autoclave achieves a dependable result by eliminating living organisms on surfaces not simply through steam, but through a damaging combination of heat and pressure, which increases temperatures to extremely high levels.

Commercial uses include a wide range of industries. Professional sports teams, hospitals, sanitation departments, dentists and veterinarians all utilize the technology. Beauty spas, manicurists, and particularly, tattoo parlors all use autoclaves to help prevent the spread of infection between customers. Some states have regulations that mandate that these businesses maintain germ-free instruments to keep you free from infection.

The Autoclave's Power
Infection control is the autoclave's primary purpose. However, what exactly is it that you are being protected against? General infection and inadvertent transmission of serious diseases like HIV and Hepatitis B and C are just some of the diseases that autoclaves can help control. These three diseases are the most closely monitored by Health Departments and Centers for Disease Control in any situation where saliva or blood is known to come in contact with shared equipment.

You should feel secure that such agencies exist; however, it is wise to question the everyday practices followed at the places you go for health and beauty aid. Everyone utilizing an autoclave sterilizer, whether it is a nurse, a sanitation official, your dentist, a surgeon, a veterinarian, or a medical student, needs to adhere to a simple procedure and use good common sense for protecting individuals' safety. Each should learn to package instruments properly and load and operate the autoclave correctly. The necessary follow-up is to monitor and mark the sterilization result. These few steps are all that is required, but each is critical to the proper sterilization of instruments.

The autoclave has a greater impact on preserving your day-to-day health than you probably realize. You may keep your own utensils clean through a similar household device, the dishwasher. However, instruments used for medical purposes need more than a simple washing. When the "dishes" are beakers and test tubes or dental instruments and acupuncture needles, the right device for the job is an autoclave.