MaestroMD is a revolutionary new service from Encore Etc., Inc. that sterilizes musical wind instruments such as flutes, clarinets, saxophones and trumpets. Each year, the health of millions of musicians and schoolchildren is put at risk if they play unsterilized wind instruments.

Laboratory studies have suggested that pathogenic bacteria can survive and thrive in a wind instrument – not only in the mouthpiece, but also inside the instrument. Until now, music dealers and schools have used a variety of methods to clean, sanitize and disinfect mouthpieces and instruments, but these methods have only reduced the bacteria on instruments, not eliminate it. The MaestroMD Sterilization System destroys all the bacteria on, in, and around the musical wind instrument and its case.

For years, the importance of not sharing personal items that we put in our mouths – from soda cans to toothbrushes – has been drilled into our consciousness. Physicians, dentists and government organizations like the Center for Disease Control (CDC) have cited the risks inherent in sharing these items.

However, every day, musicians – including millions of school-aged children – take a similar risk each time they pick up their wind instrument. Parents of school-aged musicians have long believed that the schools or music dealers from whom they rent, loan, or buy instruments have been taking steps to ensure these instruments have been sterilized. But, in fact, this sterilization technology has not been available up until now.

In the mid 1990s, Dr. Lorenzo Lepore, a practicing dentist in Massachusetts, was approached by a school music teacher who had loaned a school-owned wind instrument to a sick student musician. She sought his advice before loaning it out to another student. Dr. Lepore instructed her to have the instrument sterilized but then learned that there was no accepted method for sterilizing instruments that likely harbored bacteria. Dr. Lepore set out to find a solution, and committed more than eight years to researching and identifying an EPA-approved sterilization process that could be used for wind instruments.

If you are asked about wind instrument sterilization because of an article a parent might have seen in the news, here’s what we suggest:

• For more information we invite them to visit our website www.MaestroMD.com, where they can visit a special PARENTS section where there is lots of information specific to their interests and needs.
• If they have purchased a new or used instrument on an on-line auction site, or through an ad or at a yard sale, we strongly recommend they sterilize the instrument and replace the case.
• Keep them informed about what you’re doing as a school:
  • Download and personalize a letter from our Educator Support Center and send it home to parents
  • Refer them to your local school music dealer to get their child’s instrument sterilized

Until Dr. Lepore began his research into the topic of wind instrument sterilization nobody had considered such risks. If you played an instrument as a child, you could very well have gotten strep or had one continuous health issue after another which could simply not have been explained. And pediatricians and doctors have not been programmed to ask, “Do you play a wind instrument?”, so the correlation has never been made.

The fact is, it takes epidemiologists and a considerable amount of health sleuthing to connect the dots. Consider the “discoveries” surrounding the danger of asbestos and lead paint. Our parents had no intention of putting us in harm’s way when our basements were filled with asbestos. Nor did we consider that our children would be eating the paint from window sills and contracting lead paint poisoning. Discovering these dangers took years.

And consider another discovery – in the early 1990’s the dental profession came under intense scrutiny when a dentist in Florida inadvertently infected several patients, which ultimately lead to their deaths.

These deaths in Florida led to significant changes in the way dentistry is practiced in the United States. Today, every credible medical or dental practitioner would demand that any instrument being put into the mouth of a patient be sterilized prior to use on a subsequent patient.

In 2004, Dr. Lepore had his efforts to have wind instruments considered with the same seriousness as medical devices publicly validated. That year the FDA declared its support of Encore’s efforts in developing MaestroMD. The Agency issued a letter stating: “We agree that Encore Etc., Inc. is addressing a valid public health issue consistent with the universal precautions adhered to in medical/dental settings relative to instruments contaminated with body fluids.”

Basically this means that wind instruments should be treated the same way that medical devices are.

Formal medical studies on the millions of musical wind instruments in the general population have not been performed due to the exorbitant costs and logistics that would be involved in testing these instruments. In lieu of such broad population testing, Encore Etc., Inc. conducted laboratory-based scientific studies which proved that bacteria causing staph and strep infections, sore throats, and much more serious diseases such as meningitis and tuberculosis can survive and even grow inside a musical wind instrument.

Encore Etc., Inc, the developer of MaestroMD, commissioned laboratory research in which five specific bacteria were introduced to a set of musical wind instruments. These instruments were then stored and tested at 7, 14, and 21 elapsed days to determine which, if any, of the bacteria remained alive.

A total of 95 tests were completed over the 21 days and one out of three tests was positive for living bacteria. It is also very important to note that the specific set of tests performed on the 21st day reported positive for living bacteria in one of four tests – even after 21 days had passed.

Encore Etc., Inc. believes this scientific data strongly suggests that bacteria could live long past 21 days in a musical wind instrument. This belief was reinforced when five of the instruments from the 21-day test were used for additional testing five months later. One of the bacteria used in the original test (tuberculosis surrogate) was found still living in two of the five instruments…five months after they were originally “infected.”

In other laboratory research conducted by Encore Etc., Inc., four wind instrument mouthpieces were “infected” with four different bacteria, and were then stored in a sealed humid atmosphere for seven days. The test was intended to simulate an instrument being put away without being dried and stored in its case for a week after being played, a habit that is fairly common among many student musicians.

After seven days, testing revealed that all four of the bacteria were still alive, and three of the four bacteria populations actually grew in size. Population growth in these three bacteria ranged from a 62% increase up to a 93% increase.

"Cleaned", "disinfected", "deodorized", or "sanitized" do not mean the same thing as "sterilized". The only way to be sure that the mouthpiece is 100% free from all harmful bacteria is through sterilization.

Music dealers and schools have used various methods of cleaning and disinfecting instruments before passing them from one student to another - some more effective than others. Until recently, it has not occurred to anyone that bacteria could live inside the instrument where conventional cleaning methods are either impractical or inadequate.

It is common to "suck back" when playing a woodwind and many brass players commonly angle their instruments up into the air when playing, allowing some fluid to drain backward. Both of these practices could create a path for the harmful bacteria to make its way back into the mouth from the body of the instrument.

Regular cleaning and disinfecting of mouthpieces and wind instruments are critical, but to be guaranteed of being 100% bacteria free, sterilization is the only solution.

Encore Etc., Inc. charges for sterilization on a per instrument basis, with prices starting at $35. They vary based on the type of instrument being sterilized. Bands and orchestras that want to sterilize all of their instruments at one time can appreciate considerable savings on bulk orders.

Absolutely not. The instruments never leave their cases, nor are they subjected to extreme heat or moisture.

The gas actually flows through the through the special fabric contained in the MaestroMD pouch, and the air gaps in the seams of your case, completely filling both the case and the inside of your instrument.

Encore Etc., Inc. precisely controls the amount of time the gas is left in your case and instrument, which allows it to do its job. Then a series of steps reverse the process to make sure that the sterilization gas is completely removed from inside the case and your instrument.

The MaestroMD Sterilization System uses a gas sterilization process used for decades to sterilize medical instruments. Your instruments are loaded into a MaestroMD sterilization container and placed into a large sterilization enclosure, which is where the real work begins. The environment in the sterilization enclosure is monitored and controlled by sophisticated scientific equipment with respect to atmospheric pressure, temperature, humidity, and gas concentration levels. Your instruments are monitored every minute of every hour that they spend in the sterilization enclosure, just as if they were medical devices.

Encore Etc., Inc. has several sterilization locations around the country. Your instruments are shipped to the appropriate sterilization location based on the size of your order and the capacity of the specific sterilization facility.

The gas actually flows through the MaestroMD sterilization container, through the special fabric of the MaestroMD pouch, and completely fills the air spaces inside your case and instrument.

Encore Etc., Inc. precisely controls the amount of time the gas is left in your case and instrument, which allows it to do its job. Then a series of steps reverse the process to make sure that the sterilization gas is completely removed from inside the case and your instrument.

Your instruments are returned in medically treated sterilization pouches that will have two “Sterilized by MaestroMD” decals. These labels are your guarantee that the instruments are bacteria-free.

It is important that the instrument stays in the pouch until you give it to the student musician. Once the bag is opened, the instrument is, by definition, no longer "sterilized".