We’ve found 84 dental autoclaves from 13 manufacturers for sale in the UK, so finding and comparing them is a big job. Happily, this article has all the info you need to choose one that suits your needs.

Autoclaves use steam under pressure to sterilise materials. In Europe they are divided into three classes, following standard EN 13060:

• Class B: also referred to as vacuum, these can be used to sterilise porous materials, wrapped materials, and hollow instruments like handpieces.
• Class S: also referred to as gravity or non-vacuum, slightly less thorough than class B but fine if you don’t need to sterilise hollow instruments.
• Class N: also referred to as gravity or non-vacuum, this is the least rigorous of the three classes, suitable for solid items only, and consequently is much cheaper than the other two.

Washer disinfectors are also available, which function similarly to a domestic dishwasher. They offer a less thorough kind of sterilisation than autoclaves so we do not include them in this guide.

Most manufacturers report the duration of cleaning cycles, which typically range between 20-60 minutes. However, this duration depends on the type of items being sterilised, and whether drying time is included, so figures are not useful when comparing models from different manufacturers.