Steam Sterilisation for a Small Dental Clinic: Cycle Capacity, Daily Throughput, and the Instrument Sets That Remove the Bottleneck

In a small dental clinic the steriliser, not the clinician, can set the pace of the day. This study models a benchtop steam steriliser holding six instrument sets per 45-minute cycle across an eight-hour day, and derives both daily capacity and the stock of sets a clinic must own to keep chairs working. Capacity is ten cycles and 60 sets per day, which meets demand at four, six, and eight patients per hour. The binding constraint is stock: the rotation rule of chamber load plus sets in use during one cycle plus two in preparation gives 13 complete sets at six patients per hour and 14 at eight. Energy use is 12.0 kWh per day at a cost of USD 2.40. This study is simulated, not measured. SIMULATED, NOT MEASURED.